Naruto, the returning Swordsman
by Whisper Yoyo
Summary: Summary: At the age of only four years old, a young Naruto Uzumaki is chased out of the village hidden in the leaves. After running for hours, Naruto decides not to go back and runs into a village of swordsmen and women. What exactly will happen when years later he is found by a Konoha team in Wave? Collaboration with String Dman.
1. Run away Fox

_**This is a collaboration with StringDman.**_

 _ **Don't know how this first story will go, but i hope you guys like it.**_

* * *

 **Konoha street, night time**

"THAT'S RIGHT YOU DEMON!" A drunk man shouts at a little blond boy cradling into himself on the cold ground. "THIS IS WHAT YOU GET, MONSTER!"

The man kicked the boy in the stomach, hard, causing him to dry heave. The other people around the man joined in and started to kick at the boy. They shouted many dirty things to him like demon, monster and other various derogatory things. All the blond haired boy could do was pray that they would eventually stop before he would have to limp to the hospital again. The boy hated the hospital. Not because of the food or terribly uncomfortable beds they have, but because of the way they treated him. They wouldn't treat him like normal kids at all. When a normal kid went to the hospital, they doctors and nurses would treat him or her with care, yet when the blond boy went there, they would only treat him half way before tossing him out. Usually at night so that the villagers could continue to do what they're doing now.

After several long and painstaking minutes, the mob saw that the boy had stopped moving and was barely breathing as well. Satisfied, they all dispersed right before any anbu or the Hokage could show up. After they left, the blond boy slowly opened his one good eye as his left one was swollen shut. He slowly raised himself on his surprisingly unbroken arms and crawled away to a nearby alleyway to rest up. As he leaned onto the wall and took slow, shallow breaths, he looked up to the night sky and started to sob. Ever since he could remember so far, this has been his life. Chased around by the angry villagers, usually cornered and then beaten half to death. The glares and hateful remarks were always present as well. Usually 'demon' was the main thing said to him. He didn't know why.

The boy placed his head into his hands and continued to sob, not even noticing that he was being watched by an old man from afar.

"Oh Naruto." The old man says to himself as he watches the boy through a crystal ball. His wrinkled faces showing only one emotion. Despair. He knew that he couldn't do next to anything to help the boy now named Naruto.

Naruto Uzumaki had been one of the most hated individuals in all of Konoha. All because of something far out of the boys control. The forth wanted the villagers to see this boy as a hero to all, yet their anger and hatred outweighed their logic and reasoning. The boy was always constantly hated and hurt on a near daily basis. It is very worrisome when a child of only four years old tells you that he has grown somewhat accustomed to the pain.

The old man watched Naruto for a few more minutes before seeing that the boy had fallen asleep in that alleyway. Once Naruto had fallen asleep, the old man cut the connection and let out a tired and frustrated sigh. He went back to his paperwork, not aware that the next few days would prove rather arduous for the blond haired boy.

 **The next day**

As the sun descended upon the village, the alleyway was filled with its ever present light. It shined onto Naruto, who was leaning on a dumpster, and woke him up from his uncomfortable sleep. He stretched a bit and popped several of his stiff bones before noticing two things. One, a broken mirror in front of him showed that most of his injuries had healed almost fully, and two, his clothes were ripped up.

His clothes consisted of a blue shirt along with bright orange shorts. He didn't even have any shoes on, so his feet were worse for wear.

Naruto let out a sigh before putting on a brave face and leaving the alley. He walked down the street, ignoring all of the hateful remarks and threats as best as he could. It was never easy for him though, those remarks. It was always hard to ignore them. Especially the ones that threw things at him for no reason.

As he passed a few of the stores and restaurants, Naruto quickly ran passed them as to not get his hopes up of today being different than the last times. Usually when he passed these types of areas, his stomach would growl uncontrollably since he was malnourished half the time. The other time he's just eating ramen. True, he loved the stuff and all, but he would never have anything else aside from it. He was only four and had been living on his own ever since the orphanage kicked him out two years ago.

Naruto hurriedly made his way back to his rundown and shabby apartment a few minutes later. Home sweet home... if you were a rat that is. The apartment building was more on the torn apart side than most buildings. The walls were torn up, there was entire patches missing from the roof, the flooring was not sturdy, the stairs looked like they were put back together multiple times with tape(because they were), and the landlord, an old and short man, made no indication of fixing up the place.

That was just outside. Inside of Naruto's room was worse. Trash from the villagers screwed about the place, rats roaming around looking for what little scraps they could find, broken glass in a pile from adults and other kids throwing stuff through them, rotted out walls and flooring, and a large hole in the ceiling that the landlord left there. Top that off with no insulation or hot water and you have a horrible living condition for a child.

Naruto sighed as he opened his ajarred door from the last time a few villagers broke in. He went inside and looked around for the spare set of less torn clothes in his closet before pulling out something. A red shirt with a few kunai holes in the places where his heart and stomach are supposed to be, and a dark blue pair of shorts with a slight tear on the right thigh leg.

After he dressed himself, Naruto decided to sit down on a part of the floor that wouldn't creak and give way to his light weight. When he sat down, he soon laid down and looked up to the cracked ceiling close to where the hole was.

"I really hope Ji-Ji can help me fix the roof this time." Naruto said to himself in a hoarse voice. He gave a few quick coughs to get his voice back to its original state, but that was in vain.

With another sigh, Naruto stood up and decided to head out for a walk to the only place in town that was nice to him. Ichiraku Ramen.

It took Naruto a little bit of time, what with having to avoid everyone that 'ran' into him. Once he got there though, he immediately perked up and that big goofy smile spread along his face.

"Hey old man!" Naruto said enthusiastically as he sat down on the stool in front of the stand.

Said old man looked over and smiled at his favorite customer.  
"Hey there Naruto. What'll you have this time?"

Naruto smiled warmly to the man as he made out his order.  
"Five bowls of miso ramen, and five bowls of pork ramen please."

The old man chuckled under his breath before his daughter came out and greeted the blond. The girl had short brown hair and a generous smile when she saw Naruto.  
"Hey there Naruto-kun." She said to him. "It's good to see you again. How are you?"

Naruto knew that she was only asking to make sure he was alright. She kind of became like an unofficial older sister to him ever since the orphanage incident. Naruto didn't want to worry her, so he just gave the same answer as always.  
"I've been doing fine Ayame-chan."

Ayame simply smiled and continued with his order, completely aware of his lie.

After an hour or so of eating and talking to the Ichiraku's, Naruto left to go and see the Hokage like usual. He had been doing this for some time now, going to Ichiraku's to eat, hanging out there to talk for a bit, then heading to see his surrogate grandfather. It was always a hassle to get in to see him, what with the receptionist always shooing him away and the stationed anbu who hated him throwing him out without the Hokage's knowledge.

Naruto would usually wait for him out in the lobby or outside the building until he came down for a short break. Even if Naruto was having the worst of times, which were a lot of times, whenever he would see the old man it would always brighten up his day. Today was no different.

"Aw, Naruto-kun." The old Hokage said to him as soon as he saw the boy.

Naruto gave a big tooth smile and ran over to him, hugging him in the process.  
"Hey Ji-Ji!"

The Hokage hugged him back and the two went for a walk outside. As they walked, they talked about a few things, the hole in the ceiling of Naruto's apartment being the main thing though. As they walked on, Naruto could feel that something was off about Ji-Ji. He couldn't place his finger on it, but something was just off. The Hokage was usually a busy man, that, Naruto understood, and he usually looked tired during or after a days work. But now, he just seemed to be thinking about something. Something deeply important.

"Ji-Ji?" Naruto started only to receive silence.

Naruto became a little discouraged at this and decided not to press the issue. The man is an important figure to all of Konoha, so he might be thinking of something for the village and its people. That was when Naruto sighed again at the thought of 'the people' of the village. Along with both sides of the council, these villagers have been making his short life an absolute hell. The beatings were bad enough, but that was just the civilian side. The shinobi side would be a little more creative with the way they tormented him. Naruto remembered one time when the clan head for the Inuzuka clan sent their dogs out on him for 'fun'. Or the time he said hi to a shy Hyuuga girl and beaten by other members when they poked him. Somehow he was put into shock and cardiac arrest from that. The Aburame clan was surprisingly lax on what they did to him. Usually they were rather stoic but a certain few would send their bugs on him just to make an example. Naruto still has bad dreams about those bugs.

The two continued to walk until the Hokage was called back to his office rather urgently by an anbu Naruto recognized. The dog masked anbu with the gravity defying gray hair was one of the few anbu that at least didn't pay much attention to Naruto to want to hurt him.

The Hokage nodded to Dog and he left via a swirl of leaves. The old man turned to Naruto and gave a slight smirk.  
"Naruto, I have to get back to work now. You head on home, okay"

Before Naruto could even say 'okay Ji-Ji', the old man was gone in the same way as Dog. Naruto sighed as he looked down to his still uncovered feet. He walked away and just wandered along the village with no real goal in sight. Should he head home? Why? The place was horrible. Should he head to a playground? No point. The parents and most likely older kids would just chase him off. He could try going back to Ichiraku's, but by this time in afternoon they would be a bit too busy. Those were the only places that Naruto had ever known nowadays.

Sighing out of despair now, Naruto simply kept on walking until nighttime hit. He didn't even notice until it was too late. Nighttime was the worst time of day for Naruto to be outside. People got drunk, drunk people wanted to 'have some fun', and there would be a Fox Hunt. Naruto had no idea why they did this or why they called it a Fox Hunt. Maybe it was because of his whiskers or something.

Anyway, Naruto started to walk a little bit faster as not to get caught and beaten up once again. He could already hear the murmurs of come of the villagers as they started to follow him. This time though, the fear and anxiety of the situation got the better of Naruto and he took off in a dead sprint. The civilians saw this and made a mad dash to try and keep up with the surprisingly fast 'demon boy'.

Naruto ran as fast as he could and ran past a few kids his own age on the way.

He past this black haired boy with deep onyx eyes that was walking with his parents and older brother.

A girl with pink hair that shouted at him the moment he bumped into her mom. Her mother joined in the shouting and encouraged the growing mob to chase the boy with haste.

He past a blond haired girl with light blue eyes that looked to him with a slight interest. Though her father, a shinobi councilman, wasn't all too amused by the boy nearly knocking his daughter over. A quick apology wouldn't cut it in the mans eyes.

Next was that shy Hyuuga girl. He passed her as she was being escorted by two men from her clan. No doubt that if he bumped into her, the mob would be the least of his problems.

Next was a boy dark hair tied in a pineapple shape. The boy payed Naruto no attention and couldn't catch many details of him before the mob ran past him.  
"Troublesome."

The last person Naruto ran past was one of the Inuzuka boys that let their dogs chase after him. The boy laughed as the mob chased after him and wanted to send his dogs after the boy as well.

Naruto just continued to run. To where, he didn't know nor did he care. As long as he got away from them, from this village and its abusive shinobi, he didn't care where he ran to.

As the gates came up, Naruto realized something, he was now running through a forest. He just kept running without any rest despite his muscles screaming and begging him to stop. He didn't listen to those thoughts and just kept on running, eventually tripping on a protruding tree branch. He fell face first on the hard ground and slipped into a blackened unconsciousness.

For a while there, Naruto found himself at peace. Floating in some kind of comforting embrace, a first for the blond four year old. He felt warmth for the first time as he was caressed by something soft and protective of him. He snuggled up to the softness and curled into it, smiling to himself that he was finally able to feel this warmth for the first time.

Unbeknown to Naruto, it wasn't the embrace of a person. No. Not a person, but a fox. A large fox that gave a feral smile to the sleeping form laying on one of its tails.

"Finally."  
It started in a deep and menacing voice.  
"Now, to begin the bonding."

* * *

 _ **So, what do ya'll think? Pretty cool right? Like I said before, this is a collaboration with a friend of mine, String Dman. He helped me out with the story and gave me a pretty cool idea for Naruto to have the ability to-**_

 _ **You know what, the next chapter will explain it. It is what the** **Kyuubi** **referred to as 'the bonding'.**_


	2. A Fox in the forest

_"Animals Talking"_

 _ **"Kyuubi talking to Naruto mentally"**_

 **"Kyuubi talking to Naruto directly"**

* * *

A few hours later, the sunlight started to shine through the trees and onto a sleeping blonds faces. Naruto felt the light and rolled a bit to get it out of his face. That didn't work so well as the light just started to flicker in various ways on his face. After a few seconds, Naruto reached for his sheet to cover himself up from the light only to find that there was something furry in his lap. He slowly opened his eyes and saw that he was outside beforehand.

"Oh yeah." He started in a groggy tone before placing his hand on his forehead.  
"I ran away from them all and fell. Must've fallen asleep."

That was when he noticed what was lying on his lap and sat up. Sitting there was a small, light orange baby fox with black paws and orange eyes. The fox looked at him as did he and went up to his face. That was when it licked him a few times. Naruto was confused at first, but then started to chuckle at the little guys tickling tongue.

"Heheheh." Naruto started as he rubbed the foxes head to convey his satisfaction.  
"Stop it. You're tickling me."

Almost immediately the fox stopped its ticklish assault and simply sat on Naruto's lap. Naruto continued to pet it for a bit before noticing that he was very far away from the village.

"Oh man." He started as he looked off in the direction that the village might have been in.  
"I must've ran too far. I don't recognize anything around here."

He looked around only to hear what sounded like a clashing of metal not too far off in the distance. He looked to it then back to the small fox and smiled.

"Would you like to come with me little guy?" He asked and received a yip in response as the fox hopped on his shoulder.  
"Alright." Naruto started as he stood up. "Let's go!"

Naruto, feeling strangely refreshed and energized for the first time in months, ran off to where the sounds of change in his life lie.

 **Konoha, an hour later**

To say that Hiruzen Sarutobi was angry was a colossal understatement. He was beyond furious, he was livid. After word got out that the 'demon boy of Konoha' had been chased out of the village by a fairly large mob, Hiruzen had sent out anbu to retrieve the boy along with sending said mob to the T & I department. There, Ibiki and Anko had their work cut out for them(not really).

Hiruzen took a puff of his pipe and assessed the situation to himself once again.

 _Naruto was with him for around fourteen or so minutes._  
 _Naruto was asking him about something but, being the stubborn old man he was, he ignored them._  
 _Dog showed up and sent an urgent message before leaving via Shunshin._  
 _Hiruzen told Naruto to head home, and then, after his important meeting, an anbu reports that Naruto was chased out of the village._

Hiruzen sighed and took another puff of his pipe before giving a silent prayer that Naruto was alright. Contrary to popular belief, Hiruzen did see Naruto as a grandson and wanted to protect him at all cost. Unfortunately for him, the council members, both civilian and surprisingly enough shinobi, wanted little to do with the boy and made it to where Hiruzen's help was severely limited. Hell, getting him that rad tag apartment was a major hassle in and of itself and look how that turned out. What made it even worse was when families would try and adopt the boy, but Hiruzen knew better. They may have put on kind faces but the malice and hate was there, plain as daylight.

"Naruto." Hiruzen started as he looked out to the village of 'kind' people.  
"Please be safe."

At that time, the Hokage's little respite was interrupted when Dog Shunshin inside and was in a kneeling pose in front of the desk. Hiruzen immediately perked up and expected a clean report that Naruto was found. That wasn't the case unfortunately.

"Hokage-sama, I'm sorry to report, but we have found no traces of the boy anywhere." Dog said in a melancholy tone.

"What?" The old man said as he stood up quickly that it surprised Dog for a moment.  
"What do you mean there's no traces of him? Explain. Now!"

Dog took a breath and answered the irate Hokage.  
"We followed his trail from where he somehow escaped through the gates. We followed the trail for over three miles, but then something happened to the trail. Something I can't even explain properly Hokage-sama."

"What?" Hiruzen asked with a raised eyebrow.

"The trail just stopped." Dog continued.  
"We searched the area before I summoned Pakkun and my other ninken to search the area. But this is where the strange part happens, they all just said to me that the scent was telling them not to follow. That there would be trouble for them and that their contract to me would become broken. I don't know what this boy has done, but it made all my ninken terrified."

Hiruzen had a slight tremble at a certain possibility, but decided against that idea and looked back to Dog.  
"That doesn't explain how you lost his trail."

"That's the thing Hokage-sama." Dog continued.  
"The trail simply just...vanished. I still don't believe it myself."

Hiruzen went a little wide eyed but kept his composure as best he could. If he was somehow right, then that means that 'thing' must have something to do with this. How though? Naruto was always up front about everything that had ever happened to him. When he found that he could use chakra, he told Hiruzen. When he did his first prank, he told Hiruzen. When his ability to heal quicker than most people developed, he told Hiruzen. So why didn't Naruto say anything about 'this'?

"Hokage-sama?" Dog said to get the still stunned Hokage's attention.

"Huh?"

"What would like us to do. Hokage-sama?" Dog asked.

Hiruzen sighed before answering him again.  
"Continue searching for him, but I'm sending in Weasel with you. His tracking skills will also prove most useful. Find the boy Dog, the fate of Konoha depends on it."

Dog nodded and then vanished via Shunshin.

Hiruzen sat back down as he prepared for what could only be the worst case scenario for Konoha.

 **Naruto**

Naruto ,along with his new companion on his shoulder still, finally made it to the sound of clashing swords. Surprisingly enough, they were farther than he initially thought. The sounds of clashing metal sounded way louder than before. Before it sounded like he was near them, but now it sounds like his is in the middle of the fight.

"Oh man." Naruto said as he rubbed his ears a bit.  
"Why is everything so loud?"

He didn't have a chance to answer as he saw that the ones battling each other had an audience around them. He walked over and could see the uproar of other men and women all around. They were cheering for two people, most likely the ones fighting, and it was all down the middle. Half for one and the other half for the other one.

Naruto pushed his way into and past the crowd to see what was going on. That was when he saw two people fighting each other with swords and clashing repeatedly. He also noticed that he was in some kind of village, but it was mainly just tents set up all over the place. Some more extravagant than others. Back to the two though.

One was a man with dark blue hair that was tied up in the back. He wore a dark blue pair of ninja pants that had a belt buckle holding a blue sheath on his left side. He had no shirt on and his muscular tone would put any man to shame along with his sun kissed skin. He had a standard katana in his right hand. The blade had a clean edge to it and the handle and pommel were both a deep onyx color. His face had a rough look to it. His eyes were a clear green color that contrasted with his hair. Those eyes held an amusement to the battle, yet it also held determination as well. Naruto noticed that he didn't have a ninja headband like most people who fought back in Konoha. Naruto also noticed that half the crowd was chanting his name loudly.

"LETS GO AKIBA RAIDON!"

Naruto then saw the other person that Jin was fighting. The other was a woman with long, sun-kissed orange hair that was tied into a bun to keep out of her face. She wore tight light brown pants that hugged her curves without being too constricting or impeding movement. She had on a small yet tight white shirt that also hugged and covered her rather impressive breast. There was a some kind of red rope tied around her her that went over her right shoulder and led to an orange sheath on her back. She held a sword similar to Akiba's, but her handle and pommel was a mixture of both white and black. Her face also held an amused determination as her hazel eyes locked onto Akiba's. The other half of the crowd was shouting her name out after Akiba's name was shouted out.

"LET'S GO SAYA!"

The two in the center of it all, now named Akiba and Saya, rushed over to one another and clashed again and again. They were using different variations of kenjutsu that helped in both offense as well as defense, yet Akiba's relied more on speed than Saya's. Hers relied more on flexibility and fluidity than anything.

The crowd was getting louder and louder with each clash and Naruto along with his furry shoulder companion were finding it hard to focus on anything really. The noise was deafening up close with both the clashes and the crowd. Deciding that this was a bit too much, Naruto left the crowd and went a good distance away from them until he heard a howl not too far away from himself. He looked around and saw that he was in the forest now. His fox companion was whimpering as it nuzzled into him a little more.

"What's wrong little guy?" Naruto asked him, only receiving a small yip in the process.

Somehow, Naruto understood in a sense that this yip must've meant danger. Sure enough, the second Naruto turned back to his surroundings, there was a pack of wolves starting to circle him. He panicked as he had never seen a wolf before, so this was entirely new to him.

He backed away from the pack of wolves as fear was very apparent in his eyes right now. One of the wolves, clearly the alpha judging by his darker fur, snarled at Naruto, but to the boy in question that snarl sounded like a voice. Just mulled down into a low growl.

 _"Who are you?"_ Is what Naruto could most interpret from the alpha.

"Wha-" Naruto said aloud before the alpha snarled again.

 _"Your scent, is different. Familiar. Ancient. Not like ours, but similar. Familiar"_ The Alpha snarled out.

"I can understand you." Naruto said more to himself than the Alpha.  
"What do you mean my scent is different?"

The Alpha went over to Naruto, slowly, almost cautiously. Watching the blonds every move to ensure it was safe for his pack. He circled Naruto a few times, taking in his scent in the process, and started to relax from the look in his eyes. Naruto noticed this wanted to ask the Alpha a few questions, but that was when a kunai pierced the ground between Naruto and the Alpha. Naruto turned and saw that woman from before, Saya, leap towards him, sword drawn and at the ready. The Alpha growled as did the other wolves before he looked back to Naruto.

 _"Speak later, cub."_

Before Naruto could say anything, Saya had landed near him and held him to her with her sword pointed towards the wolves. Others, like Akiba, showed as well and surrounded the two. At the sight of the humans, the wolves retreated, but the Alpha turned to look at Naruto one last time before heading off with the rest of the pack. Once they were gone, the swordsmen and women around relaxed, only for Akiba to push through and confront the blond boy.

"Kid, what the hell is wrong with you!" He yelled out, much to Naruto's surprise.  
"Those wolves would've killed you if we hadn't shown up!"

"That's enough Akiba." Saya said to him as she picked up Naruto with her free left arm, surprising the boy even more.  
"Can't you tell that this kid is hurt? I'm taking him to the medic. Everyone else, fights over. Get back to your posts."

The group of people dispersed and Saya started walking over to a large tent with a red cross on it. Naruto remembered that symbol from Konoha General and shuddered a bit in her hold. Saya felt this and smirked a little before asking an important question.

"So tell me kid, just what exactly are you doing out here in the middle of the forest with no shoes and tattered clothes? You a runaway or a homeless person by any chance?"

Naruto looked at her for a bit before feeling a nudge from the little fox companion on his shoulder, almost like he was urging the boy on.  
"Well. I did run away, but I just don't remember what direction it's in."

Saya sighed a bit in an exaggerated way before asking another question.  
"What's your name and where exactly is your village? I'm pretty sure your parents are worried sick for you."

Naruto shook his .  
"I don't have any parents. Never have actually."

Saya gasped a bit and went wide eyed for a second before regaining her composure.  
"Then what's your name? Mines Saya. Saya Den."

Naruto smiled his usual grin and was about to answer before a voice in his head talked in a deep and dark tone.  
 _ **"Don't tell her your last name."**_

Naruto would've asked who that was, but decided not to and went with what it said.  
"My name is Naruto Kazuyuki, and I'm originally from Konohagakure."

Saya nearly stumbled at the name of his village. She looked at him with wide eyes and asked.  
"You ran all the way from Konoha to here?"

Naruto tilted his head but answered truthfully.  
"Well I did fall and knock myself out, but yeah I did run pretty far I guess. Why do you looked so shocked?"

"Because Konoha is at least a three days run from here and that's at jounin level speeds."

Naruto went a little wide eyed. He may not know a whole lot about the rankings of ninja, but he knew that jounin was one of the highest ranks you could get aside from Hokage. How did he get here so fast if it would take a jounin three days to do so? Saya shook her head since she could see the look of shock in the boys eyes and went into the medical tent to get him treated.

While Saya was handling Naruto, Akiba, along with a few more swordsmen, were more than a little skeptical of their uninvited guest. While the swordsmen were simply talking about the kid, Akiba was more concerned as to why the wolves didn't attack him. Instead, it looked like the Alpha was just watching him with interest than hunger. It was a bit nerve wracking now that he thought about it. The kid was also talking to the wolf. Talking to a wolf? That's just rich, yet something told Akiba that this kid was hiding something. Something dangerous.

 **Later**

About half an hour later both Saya and Naruto are walking along in the village. The medic of the small village was very surprised that the boy was the picture of perfect health, even after hearing from Saya that he ran away from Konoha as is. This enticed the medic, a burly man with dark brown hair and a beard, to ask her questions, but was waved off by her.

Saya didn't know why, but she felt the need to get the boy dressed properly and give him some place to eat and sleep for now. Call it mothers instinct if you will, but she wound up giving the four year old some clothes. A pair of black shorts, a white shirt and an orange coat that just worked for him.

"Alright Naruto," Saya started as she led him to a large black tent that had a white kanji for 'Sun' on it.  
"I don't know why you ran away or how you got all the way here in such a short time, but I should probably take you back there. Your parents are probably worried si-"

She stopped herself when she remembered that he said he's never had parents. She opened the flap to the tent and beckoned Naruto inside. He obliged and went in to see a wide open area with black flooring, a shelf next to a wood carved desk, lavishing chairs with a cushions on the seats around a small wood carved table, and four beds of varying sizes. The largest one looked like it could fit about five people on it.

"Wow." Naruto said under his breath, his fox companion looking around from his shoulder. Naruto turned around to Saya.  
"You live here?"

Saya smirked and nodded to him. They didn't really converse all too much as Saya had someone prepare a small meal for the boy. It wasn't anything too large, just some deer meat and soup. Naruto looked at the cooked deer meat as did his fox and they both ate.

Saya was a little surprised at how Naruto was eating the food along with the fox. The sight reminded her of someone who was the exact same way.

She shook her head and brought herself back to her senses when she saw Naruto yawn after eating the meat. Same with the fox, who was now in his lap. Naruto rubbed his eyes to wipe the sleep away only to find himself and his fox being carried to one of the beds by Saya. She laid him down and set the sheets over him while the fox cuddled up next his face. Saya smirked when she saw how fast asleep the boy and fox were and left to deal with her followers concerns. You don't run a villages worth of an organization by showing this side of weakness often.

 **Darkness**

Naruto felt weightless once again as he slept. He felt a slight chill despite knowing that that woman wasn't just going to throw him out once he fell asleep. For a short time, he felt cold and uncomfortable on the bed he knew he was in. It was only when he thought of that warmth that he felt the other night that he felt it again. He was wrapped in its warmth once again and it felt so nice for him. Before he could truly slip into the blissfulness, he heard a voice speaking to him, softly yet with a dark tone.

 **"Naruto."** The voice started.  
 **"Wake up kit."**

Naruto, still in the embrace, opened his eyes and saw that he was in dark sewer with a massive gate in front of him and pipes all converging on said cage. He looked up and saw something was behind the large cage. Something covered in red fur. Said red fur was out of the cage, a tail from the looks of it, and was wrapped protectively around Naruto.

 **"I finally get to see my jailer."** The voice from behind the bars spoke again.  
 **"The bonding seems to have worked perfectly as well. Good."**

"Who are you?" Naruto asked, surprising the voice by his lack of fear.

A pair of red eyes looked straight at Naruto and rose up a bit before kneeling down in front of the cage. The tail that had Naruto moved him closer to the cage and Naruto could get a better look now that he eyes were adjusted to the darkness. He could see that it was a giant fox with nine tails, one of which was still wrapped around him.

"Whoa." Naruto whispered with a glint in his eye.

 **"I'm the Kyuubi no Kitsune, Naruto. The nine tailed fox."** The Kyuubi said to him, expecting a scared reaction only to see the boy smile at him.  
 **"You're not afraid?"**

"Why would be afraid if you're the one making me warm?" Naruto answered him with the same smile.

The Kyuubi smirked at the boy and decided to explain the unasked questions that Naruto was thinking about.  
 **"I'm sealed inside of you. This place is your mind and it looks this way from your years of pain and suffering. You can change it anytime you want now that you can enter it freely."**

Naruto decided to test that out and thought of someplace else. In an instant, the duo was in a lush forest and surrounded by tall trees. The trees leaves were heavy enough not to see the sky but still let sunlight through it. The Kyuubi was very impressed by Naruto's imagination.

After Naruto opened his eyes and looked around real quick, a thought occurred to him and he asked.  
Hey, Kyu-san. You said the something about a bonding working. What do you mean by that?"

Kyuubi huffed a bit at the little pet name before answering his jailer.  
 **"The bonding I used on you is a demons contract. It's linked to me, and now it's linked to you."**

Naruto tilted his head at this.  
"What exactly does that mean Kyu-san?"

 **"It means that I have bonded a contract to you that allows you to communicate with other animals of my kind. Foxes, wolves, dogs, coyotes, whatever."**  
Kyuubi continued.  
 **"It also allows you to use them and their natural affinity chakra."**

"Natural affinity?" Naruto asked as he tilted his head a little.

Kyuubi chuckled a little and answered.  
 **"All living creatures have chakra, Naruto. Even animals, but my kind have a natural affinity to them. Foxes have fire. Wolves have lightning. Dogs have wind. and Coyotes have earth. And now it's up to me to teach you how to utilize those affinities in those animals."**

"Whoa." Naruto said with a glint in his eye only to remember something important.  
"That Alpha wolf from earlier. I could understand him. How?"

 **"Easy. With the demon contract to me, you can communicate with them easily. You can even summon them with some practice, though I'm sure that little fox would be happy to be your fire affinity."**

Naruto smiled warmly as he thought of it. If he could learn how to fight with them and summon them, then he was going to be a powerful ninja in the future. He could return to Konoha and become a ninja there, but then he had a thought come to him. He looked to Kyuubi with a big smile and asked him.

"Would I be able to use them through a sword, Kyu-san?"

* * *

 _ **Alrighty then. The table's being set, let's get ready to soon eat. After I posted this story like three days ago, I already have over 30 favorites and 40 follows. Sweet!**_

 _ **Reviewers:**_

 _ **Crazywizard37: Here you go, more to read. Lol.**_

 _ **StringDman: Thanks for the idea with the contract. Really helps.**_

 _ **spiritwolf35: I don't really know about pairings yet, but I do hope you continue reading this. Lol.**_

 _ **jablanco: It was really cool.**_

 _ **naruxharemxking: Okay, that's a little extreme. I don't really plan on doing anything like this. Like at all.**_

 _ **WCDragonS. : Thanks for liking the story, hope you continue reading. Lol.**_


	3. Wolves with a Fox

**Konoha, dusk**

Back in Konoha, news had spread that the 'demon boy' had fled from the village. There was an uproar of celebration at this that was, as quickly as possible, stopped by every anbu that Hiruzen could muster up. It didn't stop the fact that people in the village were beyond ecstatic that Naruto was gone now. Not many people felt anything towards the blond aside from Hiruzen and the Ichiraku's, but that was about it.

Hiruzen took a puff of his pipe and looked up to the Hokage monument. More specifically, the forth.  
"Oh Minato. You would be so disappointed in the people of you village."

Outside among a certain clan district was one of the kids that Naruto ran into when he ran away from the mob last night. His black hair and onyx eyes locked on his brother preparing to leave for a mission. A long term one. The boy saw his older brother putting on his anbu gear and sighed in a saddened way. This caught the older boys attention as he turned to his little brother.

"Sasuke." The older one said as he knelt down to his little brother.  
"It's just for a few days, okay. I'll be back before you even know it."

Sasuke sniffed a bit but nodded to the older of the two.  
"It's just, you've never been gone this long Itachi."

Itachi smiled a little and flicked Sasuke's forehead with his two fingers like he always did to annoy him. Sasuke just huffed as Itachi smiled back at him and left through Shunshin. When he left, a note fell to the ground that said,

 _'See you in a few days Otouto.'_

Sasuke smiled and decided to head out to train like his brother with shurikens and kunai.

 **Naruto**

Naruto had just ended his conversation with 'Kyu-san' and had woken up in time to see Saya awake and doing stretches. He sat up after petting his fox companion and they both watched her as her back was turned to them. The fox laid in Naruto's lap. They watched her do stretches for her arms, legs, neck, and finally back before Naruto realized what she was wearing. It was just a long white shirt that really just looked a little too big for her, but when she bend down to stretch her back, the shirt rode up. Naruto had never seen a woman's 'private parts' before, but he got a real good eyeful since Saya wasn't wearing anything under the shirt. Even the fox was watching her rear as she bent down.

"Huh." Naruto started loud enough for Saya to notice and look under her spread legs to see the duo.  
"So that's what guys at the village were looking at at the bathhouses back in the village. Weird."

Saya blushed heavily and stood up straight. She hiked the shirt down and crossed her arms as she looked at the boy with both anger and embarrassment in her glare.  
"And what exactly are you doing up at this hour?"

Naruto smiled warmly to her and then bluntly answered.  
"I'm used to waking up this early. It's so no one tries to attack me to early."

Saya's mouth went a bit agape at hearing this.  
 _"What the hell kind of village is Konoha?"_  
She thought to herself, shaking those thoughts away for now.  
"Well, be that as it may, after a little breakfast and proper preparations, I'm taking you back to Konohagakure."

Now it was Naruto's turn to go a little wide eyed. He had just spent the entire night talking with Kyuubi about how he was treated in Konoha and how he wishes to get stronger before returning. He knew that Kyu-san would become Kyu-sensei later on, but that was just as long as he didn't return to Konoha. Also after their talk, Kyuubi told Naruto something very interesting in deed.

"Actually Saya-san."  
Naruto got off the bed as his fox companion went to his shoulder. He stood up and looked at her straight in the eyes with something Saya had never seen in a four year old before. Determination.  
"I was hoping that you could train me and teach me how to be a ninja and swordsman."

She was completely taken aback from this and had no idea how to answer it. On one hand, she would be insane to take in a child as her student. Take into the account that the rest of her organization would think little of her if she took in stray kids from far away villages into their ranks, and you have a slight disaster for her leadership. But then there was that look in his eyes. That look that she thought a child could never possess. It also didn't help that this boy just had an aura about him that was just a little bit enticing to her. Like she just wanted to unleash his true potential.

After a bit of thinking, Saya took a deep sigh before looking to him with hardened eyes that made him tilt his head a bit.  
"And why should I, boy? You haven't really proved to me that you deserve any type of training at all."  
She chuckled a bit under her breath before continuing.  
"That little farce you had with wolves don't really bore confidence in your own abilities. Top off the fact that you ran away from your village because they were hurting, and you basically have me convinced that you'll be a very pathetic ninja. So I'll ask you again."  
She bent over to get a little eye level to him.  
"Why the hell should I train you?"

Saya knew exactly what she was doing. She was trying to scare him into waiting when he was old enough. A kid should have a childhood first before training to be a ninja.

Naruto looked down, almost like he was in deep thought. It sounded about right in his opinion. What could he do to convince her to train him? It's not like he has anything special about him to garner any attention from anyone really. He was about to answer before the flaps to the tent opened up, revealing a female swordsman panting heavily.

"Saya-sempai! Those wolves are back again!"

Saya quickly turned away from her as she gritted her teeth.  
"Damn. Those wolves are getting on my nerves."  
She turned back to the woman.  
"Defend our food like last time, and make sure that the wounded are treated after this little scuffle. Go!"

The woman nodded and quickly left to relay the orders to the others. This left Naruto questioning Saya as she went to a dresser and quickly got dressed, almost forgetting Naruto was in the tent with her.

"Wolves? Like the Alpha and the others from yesterday?"

Saya was already in her gear from yesterday when she answered.  
"Yes. They've been a thorn in our side since we came to these woods three months ago. A lot of my people have been hurt from their attacks. Some killed. They usually attack at night though, seems like their getting bolder."

She left the tent, sword drawn as she prepared for a battle once again. This left Naruto and his fox alone in the tent, but Naruto decided that this could be the perfect opportunity to test out his demon contract. He poked his head out of the tent and saw seven wolves attacking one of the tents that looked like it had food inside. He wanted to start with that, but as he made his way out of the tent, he could hear many voices of varying degrees.

 _"Don't let them cut you!"_

 _"Stay together!"_

 _Find food before they slaughter us all!"_

 _"Where is Ren?!"_

That name had some sort of weight to it. That name, Ren, kept coming up. That was when Naruto understood. He was listening to the wolves. Maybe this Ren was important somehow. Naruto was about to run over to the people to tell them to stop, but that was when he was scooped up by the jaws of that Alpha from yesterday. The Alpha carried Naruto away from the fight like it was carrying a cub and stopped outside of the camp.

 _"You again?"_  
The Alpha started as it looked between Naruto and his pack.  
 _"Stay away from the fight. Understood?"_

Now that Naruto could fully understand him, his voice sounded like a gruff, warrior type of man. The Alpha was about to speed off before Naruto stopped him.

"Wait a sec. Are you Ren?"

The Alpha, now known as Ren, turned around to the boy with confusion clear in his yellow eyes.  
 _"How do you know that name cub?"_

"Because I can understand you. All of you."  
Naruto stood up and went over to Ren.  
"Just let me talk to you for a second. Please?"

Ren thought about it for a second before howling out to the others in his pack. The pack heard his howl and slowly retreated back to the forest to regroup with their Alpha.

Once they were all gone, the men and women of the village cheered and chanted out, thinking they drove the wolves away themselves. As they did though, Saya looked back to her tent and didn't see the blond anywhere in sight.

"Oh no."

Back with Ren and Naruto, the Alpha walked around him a few times and sniffed him as well. His scent was strange. Intoxicating. Comforting. Strange. Ancient. Yet for some reason very familiar. Ren just couldn't put his paw on it. This human boy smelled more like a cub than anything else. Before Ren could speak, the other wolves showed up and saw the boy standing too close to their Alpha.

 _"Ren! What's this human doing here?!"_  
One of the wolves, a light furred one, stepped up and demanded, it's teeth barring at the boy.

Naruto started to back away as this wolf and the others started to stalk over towards him. That was when Ren stepped in front of them, surprising his pack by how he was protecting the human.

 _"This human is not like the others."_  
Ren started.  
 _"Smell him and you will see. He is more like us than them."_

The rest of the pack decided to do as their Alpha told them and one by one they sniffed the blond. They all felt it. Some kind of familiarity to them. He smelled like them in a sense. They all turned back to Ren for answers only for him to answer now.

 _"I don't know what this cub is, but he obviously has something he wishes to say to me."_  
Ren turned to Naruto.  
 _"So cub, what is it that you wish to say to me?"_

Naruto slightly hesitated but regained himself to answer.  
"I came to ask why all of you are attacking them."

Ren huffed at the question and walked over to a rock to lay on. Naruto decided to sit next to him as he answered his question.  
 _"My pack has had an issue with these humans for a few months now. They came to our home and razed it with their chakra attacks and changed the terrain to suit their needs while we had to abandon our birthplace. It has been hard times since then. With no real home, our cubs are sick and dying from the constant moving, our once steady food supply now being diminished, and the fighting is making the whole pack restless."_

Naruto listened and was surprised by what he was hearing. The wolves were just trying to get back their home.  
"Maybe you all could live with the swordsmen and women?"  
Naruto asked only to receive a few growls from the pack.

 _"You wish for us to live among those that stole our homes!?"_

 _"Why should we do that!?"_

 _"We should just kill them all for stealing what is ours!"_

 _"ENOUGH!"_  
Ren howled out to them, stopping the bickering in its tracks. He then turned to Naruto and sighed.  
 _"A kind sentiment, but unlike you cub, they cannot understand us. Not like you can. You're something else. Something from ancient times long since past. For your own safety, you should stay with us cub."_

Naruto thought about that for a second before they all heard a voice filled with power.  
 _ **"A nice sentiment Ren, but this 'cub' must stay with the humans and be trained in their ways first."**_

Ren and his pack could feel the power and demonic presence coming from the boy. The red chakra was all too familiar to them. That ancient feeling as it circled around the boy and formed a shape of a fox. Ren and the pack were in awe of the demon in front of them and bowed their heads in respect while Naruto simply looked at the swirl of red chakra in wonder.

 **"Hello, my descendants."**  
Kyuubi started, grabbing the wolves attention almost immediately.  
 **"As I said before, this one must be trained with the humans to master control of his own chakra. It would be wise to abide by what he says. This petty little war you all have will be your end, so I'm going to do you all a favor."**

Before any of them could say anything, the red chakra was gone and back inside Naruto. Said boys eyes changed to a crimson red color with black slits to them, his hair became wild and spiky, and his whiskers became furrowed. He looked to the wolves before snapping his fingers. Off in the distance, the sound of earth moving could be heard and the water of a stream was visible to them all. The wolves ran along the forest and came across a clearing of lush greens all around, a cave not too far from the wide stream of crystal clear water, and it was all surrounded by the still growing forest that was shielding it all from prying eyes.

The wolves all gaped at this wonder and were in an uproar of joyful howls. The Kyuubi controlled Naruto smirked at his own descendants happiness and hoped that this would end their war with the humans. Ren looked to him and bowed in thanks.

 _"Thank you ancient one. This will save my pack forever. We are all indebted to you and your cub."_  
The rest of the wolves also bowed to him and Kyuubi simply chuckled under his breath.

 **"The only thing that I would ask of one of you is to become a part of a demon contract with this boy. Become his weapon, become his lightning. That is all I ask."**  
Kyuubi could see that a few of the wolves were a bit skeptical to the idea, and so he explained to them even further.  
 **"This boy, this 'cub', he will need your help when he returns to his village. He will need to grow stronger, stronger than even the most powerful shinobi or Jinchuuriki. I will give you all time to prepare for one of yours to accept the contract. Goodbye."**

And just like that, the red chakra was gone and Naruto was back in control. He shook his head and looked to the wolves who were looking to him and then back to their new home. Naruto looked to the clearing hidden in the forest and was amazed by it all. Before Naruto could fully appreciate it though, he passed out. Ren caught him at the last moment and had him on his back. The little fox crawled into Naruto's coat pocket once that was done. Ren looked to his pack and with a sigh, he spoke to them.

 _"Our ancestor has given us this home not out of pity, but for the greater good of his descendants. We have been given this opportunity to live and prove that we deserve this home. I see no reason to ask any of you to do what I know is necessary for the good of this cub, so that is why I will accept the contract."_

 _"No."_  
A new voice from one of the female wolves stopped him and stepped up. Her fur was a light brown color and her eyes shined like two moons, pure white.

 _"What are doing Emi?"_  
Ren asked her as she made her way to him.

 _"Doing what must be done. You're our Alpha, the pack needs you."_  
She took the boy in her maw and gently placed him on her back.  
 _"I will accept the contract and be this cub's lightning. It has been a privilege following you Ren. Goodbye."_

And with that, Emi traveled back to the human camp with Naruto in tow. This surprised and shocked many of the wolves, but that was torn away from them when Ren howled out to Emi and the cub that she was now in the hands of. The others joined in and Emi stopped to howl in acknowledgement one last time.

 _"Good luck Emi."_  
Ren said as he finished his howl.  
 _"And to you too, cub."_

* * *

 ** _Gonna end this chapter here. Was thinking of continuing it but then decided against it. Hope you guys like my take on the world of Naruto. Emi will be a permanent character that will interact with Naruto often._**

 ** _Bye-bye._**


	4. Fox is training, Uchiha is suspicious

**[Saya]**

Saya had been looking around for the blond boy that had disappeared for over an hour now. She had combed the entire area around the village with no luck. This kid was very good at getting away from adults. If he could get away from the shinobi of Konohagakure with ease apparently, then getting away from her was pretty simple.

"Dammit."  
Saya muttered to herself as she stopped on a tree branch.  
"Where the hell are you?"

Almost as if the universe or Kami himself heard her, a howl got her attention. It wasn't like the ones before when the wolves retreated. It was more like something trying to get her attention. She looked around for a short time until she found the location of the howl. There, next to a tall oak tree, was Naruto along with his fox on his shoulder and a wolf sitting on its haunches in front of him. Saya immediately tensed up and was about to rush the wolf with her sword drawn, but she stopped when she heard the boy talking to it. She landed on a tree branch not too far away from them and listened in on what the boy was saying.

"So you decided to stay with me and accept the contract?"  
Naruto asked her, confusing Saya to what this 'contract' was.

The wolf made a few noises, as if it was answering the boy somehow. Saya watched as the wolf seemingly finished its low growls and Naruto started to chuckle laugh a bit. To her surprise and confusion, the wolf seemed to smile at him.

"So then Emi."  
Naruto started as he pet her on the head, enticing a low, but satisfying growl from the wolf.  
"Looks like we're gonna be strong together. And with Kyu-san's and Saya-sensei's help, I know I can get stronger than any ninja. Then I can go back to Konoha and change everything. Believe it."

Saya was taken aback from what he was saying. He had so much determination and heart that it was almost impossible for her not to think about it all. But what exactly did he mean by contract? Was he talking to that wolf, and if so, how? Shaking her head, Saya decided to take a chance and jumped down to them, sword still drawn. 'Emi' as Naruto called her, stood up first and took a defensive pounce in front of Naruto. The boy in question simply stood up and looked at Saya with a big toothed grin.

"Hey Saya-sensei."  
He said to her, causing 'Emi' to relax and sit back on her haunches.  
"So, is this proof enough that you should train me?"

Saya looked to him then to the wolf that was surprisingly calm right now. She had no idea what to think anymore, but knew one thing, If it was Naruto that somehow called off the wolves, then maybe she should train him. After thinking for a few seconds and seeing how calm the wolf was in Naruto's presence, Saya sighed and relaxed before sheathing her blade.

"If I do this, then I'm going to put you through hell kid. And don't think that just because you're a child that I'll go easy on you. I'll make sure that by the end of it all, you'll be begging me to take you back to Konoha."  
She tried to sound as intimidating and scary as possible, but this had the opposite effect of causing Naruto to snicker and pet the wolf some more.

After he was finished snickering, he looked to 'Emi' who nodded to him. Then to his shoulder where his fox companion had been for now and it nodded. He then turned to Saya with a strong grin and said to her.  
"We're ready."

And this was the start of Naruto's training.

* * *

 **[Konoha, weeks later]**

Sasuke was not a happy child. He was just told that his brother Itachi would be gone for yet another week looking for this 'missing child' that left the village weeks ago. It made the black haired boy mad that his only family that he was truly connected with would be gone even longer. Itachi promised to train Sasuke before this mission. Train in shuriken and kunai throwing, reflex training, some stealth and even a few Katon juutsu's. Whoever this missing child was, they had better watch it if they ever runs into him in the future.

A few of those kids from that night had started to learn about chakra from their parents. Some of them anyway. That shy Hyuuga girl was mainly being taught by her trainer at the moment while her father didn't really want much to do with her.

Others, such as the pink haired girl and the blond girl, hadn't really paid much attention really, while some, such as the pineapple haired boy, had.

Aside from that, they were told individually that in a few years they would be able to join the academy to become ninja. Some had a mixture of reactions. Some excited, some beyond excited, and some just okay with it.

Besides that, Hiruzen was at the end of his time with the search. The council, both civilian, shinobi and elders, wanted to call it off. Saying that if even after all this time that even their best tracker Itachi Uchiha couldn't find a trace of the boy, then it probably mean that he was dead. Hiruzen knew that he had to call off the search mission now and that he could only hope that his old student and his spy network could find something.

As Hiruzen stood up from his desk, he sighed, knowing that the council would finally get what they wanted for so long. To be rid of the 'demon brat' and bring about a 'new age' of peace for all of Konoha. Hiruzen knew this was an absolute joke. One boy wouldn't take down all of Konoha, but maybe he would've if he was to stay here and be treated like a monster. Hiruzen looked to the open window and walked to it. He stopped and looked out into the distance to the sprawling village that seemed to have more of a pep in its step since Naruto's departure.

"Naruto."  
He started as he took a puff of his pipe and sighed.  
"I do hope that wherever you are, you're happy there."

* * *

 **[Naruto]**

The blond boy wasn't happy. He was more irritated than anything. For weeks now he had been trying to get the hang of having to hold a sword and getting used to the weight. True, Saya gave him a practice sword, she wasn't stupid, but he simply couldn't get it down. Kyuubi chalked it up to his inexperience at kenjutsu among other things, but Naruto was being stubborn about it. Emi was sitting next to the little fox Naruto had named Yori, and the two were playing while Naruto practiced a few katas.

 _"With all due respect Naruto-kun."_  
Emi started, getting the blonds attention.  
 _"Wouldn't it be more effective to train your body more so than just rushing in to the katas?"_

Naruto hadn't really thought of that. True, Kyu-sensei was teaching him of how to somewhat control his massive chakra reserves, but he hadn't really trained him physically. It had always been in his mindscape as Kyuubi would call it.

Naruto looked to Emi and huffed a bit in annoyance before relenting.  
"So, what do you suggest Emi-chan?"

Emi smiled at the gesture, a sign that she and Naruto were really becoming good friends, and answered him.  
 _"Maybe trying something basic like working on your endurance, stamina, upper and lower body, and your core. For us wolves, speed and precision are our most useful traits when in battle. Try training in that sense."_

"Huh."  
Naruto thought. Saya hadn't really been too physical in training and assumed he had good muscle growth and reflexes for his age. So she wasn't too helpful.  
"You know what Emi. I think I just got and idea."

 _"And what would that be Naruto-kun?"_  
The female wolf asked while tilting her head long enough for Yori to take a playful bite of her ear.

"While Kyu-sensei teaches me about chakra and my contracts, and Saya-sensei teaching me about kenjutsu, could you teach me how to be as fast and precise like a wolf?"

Emi playfully tapped Yori off her ear and smiled again.  
 _"I would be happy to teach you Naruto-kun."_

Naruto knew that the path to growing in strength wasn't going to be easy. He was going to need all the help he could get to reach his goals, no matter what.

* * *

 **[Months later]**

Naruto had been put through the ringer these past months. Both Emi, Kyuubi and Saya gave him almost no time for rest during this time, and it paid off wonderfully. Thanks to Emi, Naruto was able to be almost as fast as she was at her full speed. His physical strength had tripled since her teachings and suggestions. Kyuubi had made him a master of the chakra control exercises and even taught him how to walk up trees and on water. Saya, despite not knowing how he went from scrawny and slow to pretty buff for a five year old and faster, was impressed by how he adapted to holding the practice sword. He now was able to last at least three minutes in a spar with her, surpassing his last record of only one. He was getting better with the katas each passing day and Saya was more and more impressed with his progress. It would still take years for him to hold an actual sword, but Naruto assured her that he would break that time down to a mere year in no time. She laughed at this at first of coarse, thinking he was just being an overconfident little gaki, but then she was starting to see how long he would train after practice. He was indeed getting better and stronger for his age. Maybe he could break that time down to just a year. At the rate he was going, it was a possibility.

Now though, Naruto was out of the village with Emi and Yori training. He learned how to control his chakra reserves from Kyu-sensei, now it was time for the real training. Being able to summon Emi and use her affinity properly. Kyu-sensei had bounded Emi to Naruto through the demon contract months ago when Emi volunteered for it, yet he told Naruto to hold off on the training until he mastered chakra control. Since now was the best time to, Naruto was getting instructions from Kyu-sensei right now.

 _ **"Alright Naruto. This is the real deal. Now I've already bonded Emi to you, so all you have to do is perform the summons. Just like I taught you."**_  
Kyuubi told him with a little bit of worry that something could go wrong easily if Naruto messed up something.  
 _ **"Ready you two?"**_

"Ready Kyu-sensei."  
Naruto told him enthusiastically as he prepared himself with a deep breath.

 _"I have faith in Naruto's abilities, Kyuubi."_  
Emi said to the chakra demon inside of Naruto with a smile.

Yori stood far away from the two and watched intently as they stood in front of each other. Naruto took his thumb and bit down on it, drawing some blood and performed the hand signs necessary for the summons. He raised his hand into the air, summoning the chakra needed and slammed his hand down while shouting out.

"Kuchiyose no Juutsu!"

He slammed his hand down onto the ground and a puff of smoke engulfed him and Emi. Yori watched on with anticipation for his friends and was surprised when he saw Naruto standing next to Emi. Something about her was a little different now. Her once light brown fur was sparking with lightning and her eyes were a deep crackle of yellow lighting. Her paws all the way up her legs were also covered in the lighting and she looked more feral than anything. Yori also saw Naruto and saw him breathing deeply, almost as if he was out of breath. He hunched over and was catching his breath when he turned to Emi and smiled weakly. Emi in turned did the same.

"I think I got it."  
Naruto said weakly.

 _ **"Not quite kit."**_  
Kyuubi said to them.  
 _ **"I'm surprised you were able to make it this far on your first attempt. But if it was a true success, then her entire body would be covered in lightning, not just her legs."**_

Naruto did a little huff before raising himself up and stretching. He undid the summons and Emi was back to herself again.  
"How do you feel, Emi-chan?"

 _"I feel alright now."_  
She answered as she rubbed him a bit, causing him to sit down and pet her behind the ear.  
 _"In all honesty, being summoned felt strange. And being like that I felt a little feral. Like if you told me to fight and kill a hundred men, I could with no problem."_

"Really?"  
Naruto asked, receiving a nod from her. He smiled that big toothed smile of his then stood up, rejuvenated.  
"Alright! Then lets try this again!"

Emi smiled and prepared herself for a long training session.

* * *

 **[Three years later, Konoha]**

A lot has happened in the village in the past three years. The Uchiha massacre being the most horrific. Itachi Uchiha had killed the entire clan except for his younger brother, Sasuke. It kind of left the boy a bit messed up in the head. Not like most people thought, thinking that he wanted power or revenge on his brother at any cost. He just made people think that so they could stop pestering him and showering him like a goddamn precious jewel or something. He didn't want special treatment by no means, he just wanted to know why from Itachi's mouth. The last thing he remembered about his brother before he placed him under the genjuutsu, was that he was crying. A merciless 'traitor' doesn't cry when killing people. It took Sasuke some time to process why Itachi would do such a thing and he even did his own investigation. But every time he would get even a monochrome of a clue, one of the elders on the council would lead him on. Something wasn't right here. Why were they trying so hard to keep him from this? Did this have to do with those 'talks' that Sasuke's father was having with some of the other men of the clan? Sasuke had too many questions and no answers to any of them. One thing was for sure, Sasuke needed to get stronger. Stronger so that when he does confront the truth, he'll be ready.

Right now though, he was just asking Kami himself for one thing as he sat in the academy classroom.  
 _"Please kill me now."_

As it stands, right now Sasuke had so many fangirls all around him that it made training near impossible. True, he remembered his brother teaching him a few things back then, but he still needed to know more of the basics before he could really start training. And these fangirls all trying, some a little too desperately than others, to get his attention by constantly getting in his way was an annoyance. Top off the fact that both the assigned sensei and the assistant sensei were also bending over backwards rather unnecessarily and you had a very pissed off eight year old.

After today, being only a random day in the middle of the first year mind you, Sasuke decided to head on home. Against the wishes of the elders and practically everyone who tried to adopt him, Sasuke was very adamant about staying in his own home. It took him a while to clean the place up and wash all the blood away, but he soon made it all clean. There was no way he was going to disgrace his mother, who was his favorite parent, and his brothers family name just to appease those old fools on the council.

As Sasuke made his way in the compound, he looked around the silent streets. Remembering every bloody body that was there that night. Although something about most of the dead now that he thinks about it didn't add up.

 _"Nii-chan was always about stealth, precision, and causing a painless death for his enemies."_  
Sasuke thought as he reached home.  
 _"Why were some treated that way and others cut apart like animals? That's not like nii-chan. Then what really happened that night?"_

Sasuke didn't know what was what, but he knew that when he meets Itachi again, he would get the answers he sought after. Even if he wouldn't like them.

* * *

 **Hope you guys and gals liked this chapter. I'm doing things differently with Sasuke simply because I'm a little sick of always hearing the same damn thing with him.**

 **'Emo-king, brooding, kind of a dick all the time, always answering things with "Hn", and generally just a flat out douche.'**

 **So I made him like this. No Sasuke bashing or brooding. Though there will be plenty of Sakura bashing, council bashing, probably Jiraiya bashing. I don't know bout that last one though.**

 **Bye-bye.**


	5. Battle in Wave, the Fox to the rescue

**[Last time skip, four years later, Naruto]**

Four years. Four pretty long, strenuous and difficult years. Training, practicing, sparring against others, all that jazz, and now finally Naruto was able to say that he matched practically anyone here in this village. Even Saya couldn't teach him anything else. He had already mastered taijuutsu, trained to break all forms of genjuutsu, knows a variety of Katon, Fuuton, Raiton, and even Suiton juustsu's, and was a master of kenjuutsu. He had even mastered the summons for both Emi for Raiton attacks and Yori for Katon attacks. That was some fun times for sure in Naruto's opinion. Kyuubi had told him to expand his summons so he could have Doton and Fuuton as well as Suiton summons. Kyuubi had also taught him the shadow clone juutsu. Finding a coyote for Doton abilities and a Jackal for Suiton would be a little difficult, but finding a dog gave Naruto a very devious idea. Especially when he asked Kyuubi if the Inuzuka clan were a part of the same family as foxes and dogs. Let's just say that Kyuubi gave Naruto some very ingenious ways of getting back at the clan for all the times that they sicked their dogs on him for no reason.

Right now, Naruto stood in front of his various amount of teachers in the village. He was wearing a dark orange coat with a black kanji on the back for 'fox' that went to his thighs with a dark reg shirt under it. He wore black anbu cargo pants that had a pouch for his kunai's and other items attached to his right pants leg. He had his own custom sword attached to his back in a deep blue sheath. The handle was a brilliantly bright yellow with a white guard to it that attached to a serrated blade that was sharpened to the tee. He had grown his hair a bit so no it was past his shoulders and he had it in a ponytail so it wouldn't get in the way of his battles. He also wore a black headband over his forehead with a duel swords crossing on the front in silver linings. A reminder of just who exactly trained him all these years. To his right was Emi, who hadn't really changed much, and to his left was Yori, who had grown and could talk to Naruto now.

Saya went up to the blond who was now tall enough to be level with her impressive bust, and smiled down to him.  
"When you showed up here, you were just a child that didn't know any better. Now, you wield a sword beyond the like of any master I have ever seen. You show wisdom, courage, strength, speed, stamina, endurance, and chakra to make even an A-rank ninja think twice before taking you on. A twelve year old with the strength and skill of us all. Carry that sword with honor, Naruto Kazuyuki of Konohagakure, and forge your own path."

When Saya finished, the rest of the villagers in the camp bowed to Naruto as did he along with Emi and Yori.

"Thank you, Saya-sensei."  
Naruto said as he stood straight.  
"I swear, I won't let you or any of you down. Dattebayo!"  
He yelled out giving them all a thumbs up.

And with that, Naruto Uzumaki left that village camp. Left not only stronger like a ninja, but cunning like a fox, as fast as a wolf, and almost as powerful as a demon.

 **[Konoha, three days later]**

Hiruzen was looking to team 7 right now as the pink haired banshee was demanding a real mission now. Their sensei reading his smut and thinking about other things. The Inuzuka boy who was very obnoxious for a genin. And finally the only one who looked like he was interested in being a ninja, Sasuke.

Despite being a part of a team now, Sasuke hated the fact that he was teamed up with a useless fangirl, a kid with a massive ego and superiority complex, and a jounin sensei whose idea of 'training' was just doing a bunch of useless chores. Hell, Sasuke learned more from the Uchiha archives than he did from the one eyed masked man. Today though would finally be different. The Hokage had just given them a mission outside of the village. Sure, it was escorting an annoying drunkard, but at least Sasuke could finally get away from all those ass kissers in Konoha. Maybe even truly test his skills and see if Kakashi-sensei will actually train the three during their time outside.

As they walked, Tazuna proved to really test their patience. Since they had to walk at a civilians pace, the three genin ninja were already antsy and bored out their minds. Kiba more so than the others.

"Uhh. Why can't we just move faster sensei?"  
He groaned, much to the annoyance of both Kakashi and Sasuke.

Kakashi didn't really pay him much attention as he continued to 'read' his little orange book.  
"Well it's because we have a civilian to guard who isn't a ninja last I checked."

Kiba groaned and looked over to Sakura. She was a beauty in his eyes. Perfect material for a mate to dominate. Course their was also a shy Hyuuga girl he wanted to mark as well. It was just too bad that she didn't really see him that way, and it pissed him off to no extent. It also pissed him off whenever he did want to ask any other girl out only to be shot down because they wanted to date their precious 'Sasuke-kun'. He hated the Uchiha for that.

While Sakura was trying to fondle all over him, Sasuke noticed a puddle in the middle of the road. They passed it but he turned around and looked at it really quickly before looking to the sky and scoffing.  
 _"What kind of idiot places a genjuutsu of a puddle in a dry season?"_  
Sasuke thought to himself.

Sure enough, a little ways after, the group was attacked by the Demon Brothers. Sasuke held off one while Kakashi easily defeated the other. Kiba wanted to prove himself and join in to take some of the glory, but Sasuke had already beaten the other brother. Sakura was standing next to Tazuna with a kunai in her shaky hands. After Kakashi and Sasuke took care of the Demon Brothers, Tazuna spilled the beans. He explained everything from Gato to the bridge and what it would do for Wave. Sasuke was appalled by this Gato man and his harsh treatment of the people of Wave, vowing that if he got the chance that he would burn the man to ashes.

It took some convincing from the three genin, but eventually Kakashi caved from the pressure and decided to continue on with the mission. He summoned Pakkun and informed him to notify the Hokage about the mission changing. As he watched his ninken summon run off, he saw for a quick moment that Pakkun looked over to the direction they were heading off to. The look in Pakkun's eyes were the same as they were eight years ago. That wasn't going to help put Kakashi's mind at ease.

After a few hours of walking, they found themselves almost at Wave. That was when a heavy mist rolled around. Kiba, using his oh so capable sense of smell(sarcasm) Threw a kunai into a bush.

"Got ya!"  
He yelled out only for a white bunny rabbit to come out.

"Wow, you nearly killed a vicious bunny ninja."  
Sasuke started sarcastically as he chuckled under his breath.

"Shut the hell up Sas-"  
Kiba didn't get to finish though as Kakashi yelled out to them.

"Everyone, get down! NOW!"

Everyone did as they were ordered and avoided a massive sword that nearly cut them all in two. The blade lodged itself in a tree and a man wearing patterned pats, no shirt, and many bandages over his mouth landed on the hilt of it. He wore a headband with the symbol for Kirigakure scratched out on it.

"Heh."  
He started as he turned to them all.  
"Seems I underestimated you little children pretending o be ninja."

"Zabuza Momochi."  
Kakashi started as his one visible eye went wide.

"Kakashi Hatake."  
Zabuza chuckled out.  
"The copy ninja. Said to have over a thousand juutsu's under his belt. Heh. This will be fun after all."

"Protect the bridge builder."  
Kakashi ordered them as he took out a kunai. That was when Zabuza jumped up with his sword in hand.

The others nodded and did as they were told, though Kiba was really itching to get involved in this fight. Sasuke knew better though. He figured that there was a reason their sensei was on edge during this fight, now he knew. This was a battle between two jounin to the death. No spar. No referee. Just two ninja who want to kill each other. Sasuke took a few deep breaths to calm his nerves and watched as his sensei faced off against this missing nin.

As the two fought on, off in the distance, one person in a mask watched the battle with interests. A hunter nin was in a tree as the two jounin fought in the mist. Little did this hunter know, that there was another set of eyes watching the battle as well.

 **[20 minutes ago, Naruto]**

Naruto along with Yori and Emi were now in Wave country. It had been a pretty uneventful few days as they stopped at few inns along the way back to Konoha. Emi and Kyuubi did advise that he take the return slowly. He may have changed drastically in these eight years, but that didn't mean that the people of Konoha did.

The three were on the path back to Konoha through Wave when all three of them heard the sound of clashing metal. They looked over to where the sound was originating from and it was Yori that broke the silence.

 _"Who do ya'll think is fighting out there?"_

 _"I honestly don't know Yori-kun."_  
Emi started, then looked to Naruto.  
 _"It's best not to check and continue onward though."_

"Wait a second."  
Naruto said as he took a real hard look to the chakra signatures that were there. He counted five and a faint civilian one.  
"Someone's fighting for a reason over there."

 _"What do you mean Naruto-kun?"_  
Emi asked before he rushed off.

Both the wolf and fox looked at each other then back to the still running Naruto and chased after him. It didn't take long for them to reach Naruto as he was perched in the bushes of a tree, watching the battle take place down below. They watched as both men fought each other. The one with the massive blade Naruto recognized as one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, Zabuza Momochi. Saya had talked about a group of great swordsmen that would test any master, so for Naruto, this was going to be his first big test to see just how powerful he truly is.

He waited above for awhile until he finally noticed the other man. He was wearing a Konoha headband along with the other three protecting some old man. Naruto gasped at this and wondered just what was going on. Those three were clearly genin level on a high stakes mission like this one. They looked green from the way some of them were shaking a bit. Naruto decided that he might need to be careful when he revealed himself, but then he thought that maybe they don't know him. It was a possibility.

After some really good shots from both men, Naruto saw the silver haired man lift up his headband to reveal a sharingan to his left eye. Naruto, along with the boy who had raven black hair, gasped in shock. The fight was turning in the silver haired man's favor, until he made one critical flaw. He didn't take into account of the water. Zabuza kicked him into the water and he rose up rather slowly.

"This water is dense. Heavy."  
He said before Zabuza appeared right behind him.

"Fool. To think you could beat me."  
Zabuza went through several hand signs before finishing.  
"Suiton: Water Prison Juutsu."

Kakashi was put inside a water bubble and the others started to panic. He looked to them all with wide eyes.  
"Listen! Take the bridge builder and run! He's too out of your league!"

His order fell on terrified ears as the genin were too scared to move. Their sensei had just been defeated so easily and soundly that it shook them to their core. The idea that they could all die right here, right now ever present even further.

"Hn."  
Zabuza started as he summoned a water clone that went charging towards the four.  
"I guess your little pathetic excuse for genin are done, Kakashi."

Kakashi could only watch in horror as his team was going to be killed and it would all be his fault. He didn't bother training them with any real life combat. Just petty teamwork that didn't seem to go anywhere. Was this really his punishment. For Rin? For Obito? For his sensei? Was this his punishment for them? All he could do was close his eyes and try to drown out the cries of pain and death that would come from them.

 _CLANG!_

Kakashi opened his eyes and looked over to where his team and Tazuna would have been killed. When he looked there though, he was shocked to see another child with sun kissed hair, piercing blue eyes and a sword that was clashing with Zabuza's.

"What the hell?"  
The Zabuza clone said in slight disbelief as this kid stopped his blade with just a standard looking sword.  
"And just who in the hell are you, kid?"

Naruto smiled at this and did the unbelievable. He forced Zabuza back with great force. Everyone was surprised at what they just saw and went wide eyed. Even the hunter nin. The boy in question simply looked to Zabuza and his smile widened.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki."  
He pointed his blade to the clone then to th real Zabuza.  
"And I'm your opponent now."

* * *

 **I think this is the best place to stop. Next chapter will have Naruto taking on Zabuza. That's gonna be a fun writing. See ya then.**

 **Bye-bye.**


	6. A Fox vs A Demon

**[Where we left off]**

Zabuza looked at Naruto like he had grown a second head. How could a genin, a child genin at that, force him back like this? It was absolutely impossible, wasn't it? Zabuza shook those thoughts from his mind and stood up straight. He placed his blade on his shoulder and huffed. A momentary laps in power due to him being surprised and not using all of his strength. That was it. That's all there was to it. This kid just caught him by surprise.

The three genin and the old man looked at the blond in confusion and shock. Sakura was both shocked and upset. Shocked that they were saved by some blond stranger, and upset because he didn't allow her precious Sasuke-kun to save her.

Kiba was too frozen in place to actually respond at first. Something about this kid felt familiar. Like he's seen him before long ago. Also take into the fact that his scent smelled strange and almost dominant compared to his own, and Kiba was not a happy little genin.  
 _"Who the hell does this punk think he is stealing my chance to impress Sakura like that?"_  
The Inuzuka thought to himself as he barred his teeth in anger, while Akamaru whined a bit and took cover under his partners hood.

Sasuke was brought out of his fears at seeing the blond. Unlike his two teammates, he saw this as the opportunity to fight back. To prove that he deserves this headband and deserves to be a ninja. He clenched his fist as he took a few deep breaths to calm himself. Once he was calm, he took the time to look at the blond. Something about him, his looks and his name, felt like a memory to the Uchiha. What was it? Was it something good, or something bad? Whoever this blond was, Sasuke would have to thank him after they dealt with this missing nin.

Kakashi felt like he had heard that name before. A name that he was told before, but what was it? He could ponder that later, right now the Zabuza water clone was preparing for an attack.

Before Kakashi could tell the blond to run away or that Zabuza was out o his league, the missing nin charged at the boy. Said boy was motionless as the clone came rushing towards him. Everyone thought that he was crazy for not at least attempting to raise his sword to defend himself, even Zabuza. That all changed once Zabuza's clone went for a downward slash to end the boy only to find that the blond was gone in a puff of smoke.

"What?"  
The water clone said in surprise.  
A shadow clone?"

"That's right."  
The recognizable voice said from above.

The water clone looked up only to be caught completely off guard when the real Naruto came down and went for a slash of his own. The water clone brought his blade up and the two clashed. When they did though, everyone was amazed that the clone was forced down to a knee. Even the actual Zabuza was stunned by this.

 _"Who the hell is this kid?"_  
Zabuza thought to himself.  
 _"That's twice he overpowered me. How?"_

The others were thinking the same thing as the blond smiled a big toothy smile to the clone. Naruto took his stance, a hybrid stance he picked up from watching Saya and Akiba practice, along with his own stance. He looked like he was crouching almost to one knee while he held his sword straight next to his face with his elbow bent. His unoccupied left hand was clenched like a paw and closer to the ground in front of him.

"What the hell?"  
Kiba said aloud.  
"What kind of fighting style is that supposed to be?"

Sakura agreed with Kiba, obviously, while Sasuke simply watched and waited to see what this Naruto could do.

The Zabuza clone was a little apprehensive of approaching. He had never seen a stance like this before. Deciding no to chance it, the clone went threw a series of hand signs and was about to call out a juutsu, but that was when the blond struck. Faster than lighting, he was from his previous spot, to directly behind the clone with his sword now extended from him. The ninjas and the bridge builder went wide eyed as the clone turned to water and then steam. Naruto stood up straight and looked right at the actual Zabuza with a smirk.

"That the best you got Momochi-san?"  
Naruto placed his blade on his shoulder now.  
"I expected more from one of the famed Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist. Or more specifically the oh so famous Demon of the Hidden Mist."

Zabuza was seething. Not only had this gaki overpowered him twice, he also took down his water clone with no trouble and was taunting him. If he wasn't holding his water prison juutsu to keep Kakashi at bay, then he would go over there and show this gaki what a real demon is.

Sasuke was beyond astound at this point. He couldn't believe what he just saw. A boy most likely around his age with so mush power and speed. If he were really some power hungry emo-king then he would have demanded that Naruto teach him. Man it's a good thing he wasn't like that. (Lol).

Kakashi, even with his sharingan active, couldn't fully see that attack. To everyone else it was like one minute Naruto was there then the next he was just behind the clone. To Kakashi, it looked like an orange blur.  
 _"How is a kid like this so fact that even I could barely keep track of him?"_

Naruto, still smirking, waited for Zabuza's next move, but noticed that his taunts didn't have the intended affect. He insulted the man to get him to drop the water prison so he would be at an even greater disadvantage. True, Naruto could possibly take him down by himself, especially when either Yori or Emi get involved, but he also knew that he shouldn't get cocky and overconfident. That would lead to his downfall if he ever did that.

Zabuza weighed in his options. This kid was clearly strong. A little too strong for his age. He couldn't really risk sending another water clone for fear of draining the rest of his chakra. He also couldn't risk setting Kakashi free. Then he would have a jounin and this kid to deal with, and he doubted that Haku could handle them both on his own. Before he could think of anything else, he heard a shout from behind him.

"DEMON WIND SHURIKEN!"

He turned just in time to see a large windmill shuriken coming straight for his right arm. The arm that held Kakashi in place. He quickly jumped away from the attack and unintentionally released Kakashi Hatake in the process. Zabuza landed not too far away as Kakashi was getting his bearings. He looked to where the shuriken was thrown and saw the black haired genin standing on the shore with a smirk on his face.

"You damned gaki!"  
Zabuza yelled out.

"I think you have other things to worry about Zabuza."  
Kakashi said as his sharingan stared right at the man.

Before he could do anything though, the almost forgotten blond made his presence known in a big way.

"Hey Zabuza!"  
Naruto yelled out, getting everyone's attention. They turned and saw something unbelievable. Naruto had his sword drawn back and it was covered in flames. A fox was standing right next to him, but it was completely on fire and had three tails swishing around it.  
"Eat this! Katon Kenjuutsu: Burning Kitsune!"

Before anyone could respond or even blink, Naruto slashed towards Zabuza. The flames from the sword fired towards him as did the flame covered fox. Zabuza could only block as the flames engulfed him, yet he was still standing. At least until the fox showed and rammed its way towards him. There was an explosion as the mist was replaced with smoke and impeding everyone's line of sight. Once the smoke cleared, Zabuza was leaning against a tree with several burn marks on him. He was panting hard and couldn't lift his blade at all. The fox, which was still on fire and now had two tails, stood in place as Naruto walked up to it.

"Nice job Yori."  
Naruto praised his fox with a smile.

Yori yipped at his friend and they both looked to the burnt up Zabuza. While they were preparing to end him, everyone else was in awe of what they just saw. Kakashi, even with his years of experience and knowledge and juutsu's, had never seen anything like that before. A Katon juutsu mixed with a kenjuutsu mixed with a summons? That's never been seen before throughout the entire elemental nations. How had this kid done it? And just what exactly did he sign to get a fox summons like this? Too many questions right now for this jounin.

Sasuke was absolutely taken aback from that juutsu. He had never seen anything like that before and it made his great fireball look like a tennis ball compared to that. He had no idea just how this blond had been able to do that, but maybe he could ask for some help with that. Couldn't hurt really. As long as he doesn't act like he has a superiority complex like Kiba does. Boy, he could only imagine how said Inuzuka thought right now. The simple thought brought a smirk to the Uchiha's face.

Speaking of Kiba, the boy was the most shocked at what he saw. Not only had some random kid shown up and fought this missing nin even their own sensei couldn't beat, but he summoned a fox out of nowhere and defeated said missing nin with an attack like that. Kiba would be livid if it weren't for that scent again, only this time it was much stronger and was almost commanding him to treat this boy as his Alpha. Kiba shook his head to get that thought away from him. Akamaru was still whining at the sight though and stayed huddled close to his partner.

Sakura was simply stunned by what she saw, and her fan-girlish ways kicked in as she saw the blond again. She blushed at the sight of him and swallowed hard. He was strong, a little bit taller than her, looked like he was lean for his age, and strong. Very strong.  
"Wow."  
She said to herself.

Naruto was about to go over and put the finishing touches on Zabuza when a few senbons came out of nowhere and pierced the mans neck. Naruto and the others were very surprised by this and saw a hunter nin in a mask land not far from the downed Zabuza. Kakashi checked his vital signs and confirmed that he was indeed dead. With that, Kakashi lowered his headband over his left eye again and took a long sigh.

"I must thank you for your help."  
The hunter said to them all.  
"If it wasn't for all of you, I wouldn't have been able to kill and capture Zabuza Momochi on my own. Thank you, and farewell."

The hunter picked up Zabuza's body and that was an immediate red flag to Naruto.  
"Aren't you going to take his head and burn the body, Hunter-san?"

The hunter nin turned to the blond and could see him tense up. Almost like he was ready for another fight. Had he been found out? If that is the case, then now was the time to leave, fast.  
"I do not wish to do so in front of children so casually."

Naruto huffed a bit and relaxed.  
"Yeah. I guess you're right. Wouldn't want you showing that type of death to a bunch of kids now, huh."

The hunter couldn't really tell fully, but he caught a sense of sarcasm in his tone. Almost like he was pushing and pushing hard. Without much more hesitation, the hunter nin bowed and quickly vanished in a Shunshin. Once that happened, Kakashi coughed a bit to get the blonds attention. Naruto and Yori turned around to see the man standing not too far from them.

"I don't know why you showed up or how you're this strong, but I won't look a gift horse in the mouth. Thanks."

Naruto smiled a big smile before sheathing his blade and doing a hand seal. Yori was no longer covered in flames and only had one, normal tail. This was a relief for Kiba and Akamaru as they could finally breath easily.

Naruto looked back to the man with the gravity defying hair that was still soaked and smiled at him still.  
"No problem. I was just passing by when I heard the sound of a battle goin on. All of you are Konoha ninja right?"  
The question was met with a nod by Kakashi as his students approached them, Kiba being a little hesitant.  
"Awesome! I was wondering if I could come with you guys back to Konoha when you're finished with your mission."

Kakashi and the others looked to the blond like he was crazy. In fact, thanks in part mostly to the fact that he was trapped in a water prison that was draining his chakra in small dosages, Kakashi passed out from this. All Naruto did was smile and chuckle at that.

* * *

 **Hope ya'll liked that little fight scene. I decided not to continue on and figured this was the best place to end this chapter. Hope everyone enjoyed it. Next chapter will have some bonding between Sasuke and Naruto, and no, I don't mean Yaoi. I'm not writing that.**

 **Also, I haven't really thought about making Haku a girl or keeping him a boy on this fic. Some I'm asking you guys this.**

 **1\. Do ya'll want Haku to stay a boy and die trying to protect Zabuza?**

 **2\. Or, do ya'll want him to be a her and Naruto saves her?**

 **Now if it's the second, I don't know about a pairing. Maybe a harem or something. IDK yet. Lol.**

 **Bye-bye.**


	7. Uchiha opens to the Fox

**[An hour later, Tazuna's house]**

It didn't take long after for them to get to Tazuna's place. His daughter, Tsunami, was glad to see her father returned safely, but her son, Inari, wasn't the same. The two did agree on one thing though. Why was a masked wearing ninja being carried by a wolf like he was a piece of meat? It didn't fully matter to them seeing as though they had guest now to help protect the old bridge builder.

Naruto was, for the most part, simply avoided by two of the three genin. The pink haired girl would blush slightly when he spoke to her while the Inuzuka boy that Naruto vaguely recognized just stayed away from him. Naruto did ask Kyuubi why he was doing that and the fox demon responded by saying Naruto's scent was one of dominance to the Inuzuka's. Naruto smiled at that and already had a plan for payback when he returned to Konoha.

The only one who was at least trying was the Uchiha. At first, Naruto actually wanted to avoid him because of what he heard about the Uchiha massacre. He figured that this last Uchiha was a bit of an avenger who was obsessed with power. Fortunately, that wasn't the case once Sasuke introduced himself and Kyuubi could tell that his intentions were good. The two mainly talked about how amazing Naruto's attack was and his pet fox and wolf. It came as a real shock to Sasuke when Naruto told him that the two of them were actually his summons. That rocked Sasuke's mind hard, but he decided not to press on the matter.

Once they were all situated in the house, and after the initial shock from Tsunami when she saw both Yori and Emi, Kakashi was placed on a couch to recuperate. Tazuna set his things down and introduced his daughter and grandson to the group of genin and young swordsman. Sakura bowed to the woman while Kiba simply nodded to her, dirty thoughts filling his mind at her amazing body. Naruto waved at her with his big, goofy smile and introduced himself.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki. And these two are my friends, Yori and Emi."  
When he introduced the two, both nodded to Tsunami in a gentle way.

Sasuke introduced himself with a bow as well as he had an amused smirk on his face. After introductions were finished, Tazuna decided to turn in for the night. Even though it was only the afternoon time. Tsunami decided to cook for the ninjas that saved her grandfather. As the team sat at the table, Kakashi stirring just a bit, Naruto was sitting on the floor in the living room with both Emi and Yori. He was giving them both portions of his own food.

"Hey, guys."  
Kiba whispered to his two teammates at the table.  
"What's with this kid? He shows up out of the blue, kicks that Zabuza guys ass easily, then just starts helping us. I don't trust him."

Truth be told, Kiba really didn't trust him if it weren't for that dominant scent he kept smelling. Something about that scent just told him to follow whatever orders the blond gave him like any pack would their Alpha. This thought terrified Kiba if he was being honest.

"I don't know mutt."  
Sasuke whispered back, causing the Inuzuka to huff at that nickname Sasuke gave him.  
"I talked to him the entire way here, and he seems to be a genuine guy. Very interesting and strong."

"There's no way he's stronger than you though Sasuke-kun."  
Sakura chimed in while she was still trying to get Sasuke's attention.

"No."  
Sasuke started as he looked to the blond as he was petting his wolf.  
"He's stronger."

Before anyone could say anything, a shout was heard from the living room by a certain, silver haired jounin.  
"AHHH! GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF ME!"

The three genin and the woman of the house quickly ran into the living just in time to see Naruto curling up on the floor, laughing at what was going on. And what exactly was going on you ask? Well, Yori was on top of Kakashi's chest, licking his face through his mask. Yori was very efficient with where he was licking, and apparently Kakashi didn't like that.

"Um?"  
Tsunami started as she stifled a chuckle at seeing a grown man, a ninja at that, freaking out over being licked by a fox.  
"Naruto-kun, could you please control your fox."

Naruto wiped away a few tears from his eyes as he sat up. Emi was next him shaking her head at the situation.  
"Okay. Okay. Yori."  
Said fox turned to it's master with a raised eyebrow and it's tongue still out.  
"You can stop now. I think I got a good enough laugh out of this."

Yori obliged with a yip and jumped off of Kakashi. Said jounin sat up and was wiping the drool and saliva from his face that the fox left on him. He looked over to see his team trying desperately not to laugh at their sensei cowering before a fox. Then he looked to the blond on the floor with the wolf next to him and fox now in his lap. Kakashi had many questions for this kid, but the main one was pretty obvious from the start.

"Why did that fox drool all over me!?"  
He yelled out in a pretty comical way.

That was the straw that broke the horses back as the genin team burst out laughing at their sensei's misfortune. All Kakashi could do was huff in a bit or embarrassment.

 **[The next day]**

Sasuke awoke at the crack of dawn and stretched a bit on the bed he was on. Last night was definitely a funny moment for the Uchiha, but it was time to get serious now. Yesterday really showed him just how weak he really was now. He froze at the sight of the man that dealt with his sensei. He froze. It made him feel like he was back in that room with his brother standing over his parents, ready to cut them down. Sasuke shook his head, not wanting to remember that because he just knew that it couldn't be true. Taking a deep breath, Sasuke stood from his bed, got dressed and went outside to train.

As he was walking around, he heard what could only be described as a war cry. He heard clashing of metal and assumed that it was Zabuza again. He quickly rushed over to the sound and stopped when he saw Naruto fighting...himself?

"A clone?"  
Sasuke said to himself as he watched the blonds fight each other fiercely.  
"But how?"

Sasuke watched the battle intently as Naruto fought himself. He had never seen a kenjuutsu battle like this one before. The speed, the power behind the strikes, the ferocity, the technique. It was all completely foreign to the Uchiha.

Just as he was about to continue watching, he heard rustling in the bushes and turned quickly only to be tackled. By what you ask. By a certain, happy fox that's what. Yori landed on his chest, knocking him to the ground and licked his face with enthusiasm and joy. Sasuke was actually laughing as the fox was practically tickling him. This caught the attention of a certain blond and his clone as they heard the laughter and turned. Naruto, the real one, smiled and dispelled his clone to walk over to the two.

"I see Yori has taken a liking to you."  
Naruto started as he knelt down to the two.

Sasuke was able to sit up and pet Yori, causing the fox to stop and enjoy the Uchiha's soft hands.  
"You know in all honesty, I never considered myself a dog person, let alone a fox person."

Naruto chuckled a bit as he heard this.  
"Yeah well, usually when a fox has this reaction to you almost immediately, it means that they want to stay by your side."

Sasuke looked to Naruto with a raised eyebrow.  
"Stay by my side? But I thought Yori was your fox. Didn't he have the same reaction with you?"

"Oh yeah. Big time."  
Naruto sat down as Emi made her way to them. When she was there, she laid her head down on Naruto's lap and he petted her.  
"All animals are different in their own way, but there's one thing they all have in common. And that is the fact that they're good judges of character. They find the ones that fit their own guidelines and wist to be with and used by that person. That's basically how a true summons works."

Sasuke was listening to the blond intently and was in awe of his description of summons and animals.  
"So is that why you have Emi and Yori always with you?"

Naruto smiled and answered him.  
"Yep. They both saw something in me that not many people did. Determination, drive, passion, loyalty, kindness, and mercy. That's a combo not many people have."  
Naruto looked at how comfortable Yori was in Sasuke's lap.  
"But it looks like you have that too, Sasuke."

Sasuke looked at him and gave a smirk as he continued to pet Yori.  
"Yeah, I guess I do."

"So, what happened to you?"  
Naruto asked, getting Sasuke's attention almost immediately.

"What do you mean?"  
Sasuke asked, confused by the sudden question.

"Only people who have gone through something tragic has those qualities so strongly."  
Naruto answered him and gave him a look of sadness.  
"I know about the Uchiha massacre. What happened?"

Sasuke sighed as his petting became a little lighter on Yori's back. Taking a deep breath, Sasuke told Naruto what happened.  
"My family, my clan was massacred. I went back to the compound that night after some practice and saw the dead lying on the ground. My-"  
Sasuke's voice cracked a bit at reliving that night, but he soldiered on regardless.  
"My brother was the one that did it. He killed everyone in the village. At least that's what everyone keeps telling me."

Naruto and Emi raised an eyebrow while Yori looked up to Sasuke, tilting his head ever so slightly.  
"What do you mean Sasuke?"

"My brother, Itachi, once told me when we were younger that he hated killing. That the thought of taking away a persons life made him feel sick to his very core."  
Sasuke continued.  
"He would always try his hardest to make his targets death as quick and painless as possible. Precision was his absolute strongest suite, and the way some of our family looked after the massacre did not look like my brothers work."

"What do you mean by that?"  
Naruto asked, he and his summons fully encompassed by Sasuke's story.

Sasuke took another breath as he tried to hold his tears in.  
"The way the men were killed look quick and clean, just like the way Itachi would deal with the situation. But when I saw women and children, it was gruesome. They were torn apart like street trash."  
Sasuke let out a few tears that landed on Yori's head. Said fox licked his tears away as Sasuke continued.  
"When I finally found Itachi, just before he put me in a genjuutsu, I saw him crying. Like he didn't want me to see him like that. Like he was trying to hide his true intentions. Trying to make me hate him, but something just told me that what Itachi showed me was forced in that genjuutsu."

Naruto could only sit there with his mouth slightly agape. He had no idea that the massacre was like that. Why? Why had Itachi done that? If he was truly precise and hated killing, then why would he kill the woman and children like that while being precise with the men? There was too many questions at the moment and Naruto could see Emi was about to say something. She was interrupted by the boy in front of them though.

"I don't know why Itachi did what he did, but I know one thing."  
Sasuke raised his head and all three of them saw the fire in his eyes. Not one of revenge, but of determination.  
"But I know that something is being kept from me. I will become stronger, and I will find the truth. And when I see my brother, I'm going to look into his eyes and tell him that I know what really happened."

Naruto smirked and nodded his head before an idea sparked in his mind.  
"Hey Sasuke, do you want me to train you?"

Sasuke went wide eyed at what Naruto asked him. Yori yipped in his lap, almost like he was encouraging him to accept. Sasuke looked at Naruto with a smirk on his face.  
"Alright. Tell me what you want me to do."

Naruto smiled at his decision and knew that this was going to be a really interesting time for the both of them.

* * *

 **Like I said before, bonding just not like a Yaoi. Next chapter will have a little timeskip to the bridge fight and the team leaving Wave. Hope ya'll enjoyed.**

 **Bye-bye.**


	8. Sly Fox

**[A week later]**

It had been a very interesting week for Sasuke ever since he and Naruto talked that day. True to his word, Naruto started training Sasuke before Kakashi tried to. And when Naruto said 'try to' he just meant doing the tree walking exercise. Naruto taught Sasuke that and chakra control in less than a day. Sasuke was a very fast learner, being able to control his chakra faster than Naruto thought. It was a crying shame that he hadn't activated his sharingan yet. That would've made this all much simpler.

Naruto was debating on whether to let Sasuke in on kenjuutsu yet. He had handed him a practice sword and was a little disappointed that this was Sasuke's weakest suite. He could keep running up trees and on water all the live long day, but when it came to swinging a sword, he was very out of his depth. Naruto decided that maybe Sasuke should just take it slow with kenjuutsu for now. Sasuke was happy to oblige.

Naruto even showed him what his natural affinities were through the chakra paper. He has a very strong affinity for lightning and a strong affinity for fire. Seeing as though both Emi had lightning and Yori had fire, Naruto started forming a plan in his head. One that Kyuubi may or may not agree all too much with.

 **[Forest area]**

Naruto had just finished training with Sasuke for the day in taijuutsu similar to the wolf style. The style focused primarily on speed and was right up the Uchiha's alley. The training was rigorous for the raven haired boy, so Naruto decided to let him rest with Yori while he and Emi went for a walk.

 _"So."_  
Emi started at the blond.  
 _"What is the real reason you're training the boy Naruto-kun?"_

Not much got past Emi. She was as quick witted as she was quick on the battlefield, and that was one of the main reasons Naruto enjoyed her company.

"Easy."  
Naruto said to her with a grin.  
"I can see that his life was filled with sorrow much like mine. He has potential to become strong, and if he wishes to learn the truth to his brother, then I see no reason not to help him seek that truth."

Emi sighed out and continued to follow her friend and summoner. Before she could say anything, she stopped and growled lowly.  
 _"We are not alone Naruto-kun. That hunter nin is here."_  
Emi said to Naruto who started to limber himself up a bit.

He rounded around a tree before seeing a girl collecting herbs and flowers in a basket. She was in a pink kimono that hugged her rather impressive and slim body. Naruto could tell that she was picking herbs for Zabuza and figured that she thought he wouldn't recognize her. Maybe that could work to his advantage.

"Emi-chan."  
Naruto started, getting her attention.  
"Be nice. We're gonna be making anew friend."  
Emi looked at him with a raised brow as she saw his calculative smile.  
"And I think I have a really good idea how to save her and Zabuza."

 **[The bridge]**

Team seven had been on guard duty for Tazuna the whole week now. Surprisingly enough, Gato hadn't sent any of his goons after the old man or his family since Zabuza failed last week. Kakashi was getting suspicious of the whole thing as the blond did point out that that hunter nin hadn't taken Zabuza's head like all hunters do. The whole thing really made the copycat ninja nervous as to what would happen next.

The arrival of that blond, Naruto, hadn't helped calm his nerves either. He knew he had heard that name before, a long time ago, but he couldn't fully remember for some reason. It was strange to him when he took his team out to do some chakra exercises only to find that the Uchiha had already mastered it. He could even do it with his eyes closed and backwards. Kakashi chalked it up to him being an 'Uchiha Elite' and taking on some training with say a certain council elder that was interested in him, but he was shockingly surprised when Sasuke had told him Naruto taught him. Even saying that Naruto taught him how to walk on water and showed him his elemental affinities. Kakashi was baffled by this news as was Kiba, stating that only Sasuke got 'special' training. The Inuzuka was seething and went to confront the blond, but when he did, that dominant scent overwhelmed his senses and he winded up returning to Tsunami's house.

Now, team seven was standing on the bridge with a mist surrounding them all. This was exactly like how it was when Zabuza first showed up. This mist was still very heavy with chakra like before, but for some reason, at least to Kakashi that is, something felt different. It didn't matter as he heard the sound of metal scrapping concrete.

"Protect the bridge builder!"  
Kakashi yelled out to his team as they huddled Tazuna, kunai's drawn.

Out of the mist came Zabuza along with that hunter nin from before. This just confirmed what Kakashi had suspected beforehand.

"Heh heh."  
Zabuza started as he raised his blade and placed it on his shoulder.  
"It looks like I get to have that little rematch after all, Hatake."

Kakashi gritted his teeth under his mask and prepared for a tough battle.

* * *

It didn't take long for the two jounin to take the fight farther out to the bridge. While those two were going at it, Sasuke noticed that the hunter nin had disappeared from view. He looked around for a bit, confusing his two teammates for a moment before he yelled out.

"Found you!"  
He threw a shuriken and a kunai out into the mist were he saw the silhouette of the hunter nin. It didn't surprise him when his projectiles were deflected, so now it was time for him to direct traffic with his team to ensure they all survive.  
"Kiba, Sakura, stay with Tazuna! I'll deal with the hunter nin."

He left before he could hear the annoying protests of the Inuzuka and engaged the hunter nin. Sasuke noticed that this hunter was skilled, very skilled, and very proficient. He knew that this wouldn't end well if he didn't do something quickly. Going through a set of hand seals, Sasuke ended it and yelled.

"Katon: Fire ball juutsu!"

A fireball whirled out of his mouth and straight at the hunter.

Hunter simply weaved through hand seals of his own and a wall of ice appeared out of nowhere. It took Sasuke's attack and canceled it out. Sasuke grunted for a bit until he remembered Naruto's training.

"Wait for the right opportunity."  
Sasuke said to himself.  
"Watch their movements and anticipate their attacks."

It was the same as how the sharingan worked, but required much more refined reflexes. Sasuke watched the Hunter intently as he reached for several senbon's. The hunter threw them with speed and precision, but fortunately for Sasuke, he was able to dodge them easily. The hunter was a little taken aback by this and decided to take this up a notch. Weaving through hand seals faster than Sasuke could keep up with, the hunter finished and yelled.

"Hyoton: Crystal ice mirrors!"  
Suddenly, Sasuke was surrounded by many mirrors made out of ice. The hunter stepped into one of them and became part of the mirror, much to the Uchiha's horror.  
"Surrender, or die."

Sasuke tensed up at the possibility of dying now. He knew that this was probably a horrible idea, but Sasuke took a stance, ready to fight for his life.

 **[Tazuna's house]**

By this time, Gato's men had already broken into the house for both Tsunami and Inari. What they didn't expect was to see a very angry wolf standing in their way. The two men tensed up out of fear at first, but then decided to attack from different sides to take out the wolf. Unfortunately for them, they didn't anticipate that the wold would start emitting nerve-racking electricity all around itself. The two men were down for the count and Emi went over to the two residences of the house with a note attached to her paw. Tsunami took the note before Emi ran off out of the house and read it aloud.

"Dear Tsunami and Inari. Sorry if Emi caused a mess, but at least your're both safe. I would be there but right now I'm about to help Kakashi and his team deal with Gato's men. I would really appreciate it if you two could rally the people of Wave to stand up to Gato and show him that he doesn't run this country. The people do. Naruto."

As Tsunami finished, Inari took a deep breath as he tried to hold back tears and ran upstairs. A second later, the boy came down with a crossbow and a quiver of arrows on his back.

"Lets go mom."  
He started, earning a proud smile from her.  
"Lets go and free our country."

 **[Back with Sasuke]**

Sasuke wasn't fairing too well against the hunter. He had been hit in several places by senbon's and having a hard time moving like before. He now stood his ground after standing up, barely, and saw the hunter sigh out.

"As you wish. You'll die where you stand."

The hunter threw more senbon's and Sasuke knew that this time, these were aimed for vital areas. Sasuke watched in fear for a brief moment as the senbons came rushing at him, but then something happened he couldn't explain.

Everything slowed down.

At first, Sasuke thought he was imagining things, but then he felt it. Or better yet, he could just see it, all of it. The movements, the air currents, the faint motions. That was when he knew.

He finally unlocked the sharingan.

Sasuke dodged the senbons and went through the required hand seals.  
"Katon: Fireball Juutsu!"  
He fired out a fireball directly at where the hunter was but wound up not hitting his target properly.

The hunter then tried to sneak attack the Uchiha, but was caught when Sasuke threw a kunai right at his face. The hunter dodged and quickly went back into the mirrors. The hunter knew this would take too long, so he went through a set of hand seals and suddenly many ice senbons appeared all around. Sasuke knew he couldn't dodge them all and looked for any way out. Unfortunately for him, there was none. He was about to prepare for another fireball, but was too late as the ice senbons and regular senbons came flying his way. Before they could hit though, the two heard a yell approach them.

"Katon Kenjuutsu: Fiery Haze!"

There was suddenly the blond standing near Sasuke with his flamed blade aimed down. He stabbed the ground and a great heat washed over the area, melting the ice senbons and throwing off the regular ones. The mirrors began to melt as well, leaving the hunter to break away from it.

"Damn."  
That was all the hunter could say before being hit in the neck with a kunai, courtesy of Naruto Uzumaki.

Sasuke went a little wide eyed as the blond who had been training him this past week had killed the hunter nin with ease. He went to stand but found that his legs were giving out on him. Luckily for him, Emi was there for him to use as support. He smiled at her before turning his attention to the smiling blond.

"Thanks Naruto-san."

Naruto gave him a thumbs up.  
"No problem Sasuke-kun. And hey, I see you have your sharingan now. Awesome!"  
Sasuke smirked a bit before deactivating it.

That was when they heard the final clash of metal in the distance. They turned to see Zabuza down on one knee and panting heavily, same with Kakashi. The two men were spent from what Naruto could tell. At that moment, they heard the growing claps of a someone approaching from the other side of the bridge. Everyone turned to see Gato and over two hundred or so thugs standing behind him.

"Well, well, well."  
The short man started with that cocky grin of his.  
"It seem I was truly wrong about you Zabuza. Ninja are so unreliable these days. Stuck in their old ways of thinking."

"What are you doing-"  
Zabuza started before being interrupted by the short man.

"You see Zabuza. I was never going to pay you a single ryo. I would've preferred you two killing each other so my guys could finish the job here, but it seems we'll have to kill you all nonetheless."  
He stopped when he saw the hunter with a kunai in his neck and sighed.  
"Such a shame. The men would've loved to have her for their own comfort."

Zabuza saw red, but his body was so tired and weak from his fight with Kakashi that all he could do was sit there and seethe. Kakashi was no better either. He had put all his chakra into his Chidori while also having his ninken hold Zabuza down, but for some reason they all fled in fear a while ago, allowing Zabuza to block the attack with his blade. The funny thing about this was that his ninken vanished when Naruto showed up.

"Now then."  
Gato continued with a grin.  
"Clean it up boys."

The thugs were about to rush over, but that was when Naruto made his move. He stood in front of all of them with Yori at his side. Naruto nodded to his fox companion, who nodded back, and went through several hand seals before raising his hand and slamming it down.

"Kuchiyose no Juutsu: Ultimate Fox summons!"

There was a large plume of smoke that stopped everyone dead in their tracks. They stood there in fear of what this kid just did as did the ninja that stood by. That was when they saw something unbelievable. The smoke cleared, showing a large fox at least fifty or so feet tall with three long tails behind it. The fox wouldn't be the only surprise though, as it was now on fire all over. Naruto stood behind the now grown Yori and smirked as he panted in exhaustion. The thugs were about to run away, but the fox was too fast for them, shooting out a large fireball that caught dozens of them and turned them all to nothing but ash. The thugs were about to retreat, and that was when they saw their boss being held up by someone they didn't think would be standing, let alone completely unscathed.

Zabuza Momochi.

"H-How?"  
Kakashi asked to no one in particular only for his answer to come as the Zabuza in front of him disappeared in a puff of red smoke. The red smoke left a human shaped stain on the bridge and left Kakashi in utter shock.

Without a moments hesitation, Zabuza tossed Gato up, and slashed the short man in half with ease. The thugs saw this and the look in Zabuza's eyes and saw that they only had three options. Fight Zabuza and be cut to ribbons, fight this giant fox and be burnt alive, or hope that their guys have the woman and kid hostage. That answer came when an arrow came flying down in front of them all and the people of Wave stood at the ready with a variety of tools to be used as weapons. Seeing no way out, the men jumped off the bridge and retreated far away from Wave country.

The people of Wave cheered as the thugs fled and it was revealed that Gato was indeed dead. With this victory, Kakashi fell on his back and attempted to rest for a bit, but that was when Zabuza appeared above him. Kakashi tensed for a moment before seeing that Zabuza simply crossed his arms.

"So, the great Kakashi of the Sharingan was taken to the limit by a clone. Sad really."  
Zabuza said with a smirk.

"Clone?"  
Kakashi raised an eyebrow.  
"I couldn't even tell. How did you-"

"Blame the blond haired kid."  
Zabuza interrupted.  
"He's very persuasive, and he can make clones so much like the original that even the great sharingan can't tell the difference. Isn't that right Haku?"

Suddenly, a girl wearing a the same outfit as the hunter nin, minus the mask, appeared next to Zabuza. Kakashi looked to the other hunter and saw it do the same thing that happened to the Zabuza clone.  
"Amazing."  
Kakashi said to himself.

"Well kid."  
Zabuza started to Naruto as the fox changed back to normal.  
"I guess a deals a deal. So, where are we goin?"

"What?"  
Kakashi asked, eyes wide.

Naruto looked to the silver haired man and grinned.  
"I gave them my word that if they help me in freeing Wave country and killing Gato, that I could get them a residency in Konoha. They're gonna be Konoha shinobi when we get back."

The new was too much for Kakashi and he just promptly passed out.

* * *

 **Whew, that was a lot to write in an hour. Hope ya'll enjoyed it. Lol.**

 **I'll explain what Naruto did with Zabuza and Haku and getting them on his side in the next chapter. Also, Naruto will finally be back in Konoha in the next chapter. That's gonna be fun to write. See ya then.**

 **Bye-bye.**


	9. The Fox returns home

**[A few days later]**

As the group of ninja prepared to leave Wave country and head back to Konoha, Kakashi was still rather adamant about the extra people tagging along. He didn't know what Naruto was or how he was able to do what he could do, and now he had more questions about the blond and no answers in sight. How did he summon that massive fox? How did he have the chakra to do so? Just what did he use to make those perfect clones of Zabuza and his friend Haku? And just how exactly did he convince those two to help when they did? Well, at least he had an answer for that last question.

Naruto told him that he talked to Haku beforehand and convinced her to bring him to see Zabuza. When he met the man, he brought them proof that Gato was going to betray them and use Haku as a common whore via a recording he had Yori bring to him. The kid was very resourceful, even convincing them that instead of being missing nin and always on the run, why not just work for Konohagakure, or more specifically, work for him. Zabuza saw that Naruto was leaps and bounds ahead of him and Haku was truly thankful for his help in saving her master. That leads them to working for the blond enigma.

Kakashi also learned that Sasuke got his sharingan from the fight and Naruto helped train him a bit in subtle ways after they left the bridge. Kiba was furious at the fact that the Uchiha had surpassed him again. He was going to confront Sasuke about this, but back down rather obediently when Naruto told him to drop it. Sakura found her precious 'Sasuke-kun' to be even cooler now that he had even cooler abilities. Girl really was strange in Naruto's opinion.

It was very... awkward times with Zabuza and Haku around team seven. Set aside the fact that Zabuza tried to kill them all once and you had mostly silence. Sakura did get the chance to talk to Haku for a bit and find out some interesting things about her. Like how her bloodline works, her skills, her own sense of fashion and make up, and that she does find Naruto somewhat attractive. Sakura was a little surprised to hear that and decided to press that discussion only for her to be cut off by Naruto himself. While Sakura was a little more than confused and walked away, she didn't get the chance to hear Naruto call Haku his 'Ice-Hime'.

Today was the day that team seven plus three along with a wolf and a fox left Wave. It would take them a little while to reach Konoha at shinobi speed. The people of Wave had decided to name the bridge after the one who helped liberate them from Gato, but the funny thing was that no one really knew the blond kids name. So Inari decided to call it 'The Great Fox Bridge', much to the delight of the people.

Naruto was feeling more than a little nervous as they neared Fire country. It had been close to a decade since he last set foot in the village. How had the place change? Was the old man still in charge? Would he even recognize him if he was still in power as Hokage? Hell, would anyone really recognize him was a better question. It didn't take them long to reach the gates of Konohagakure, and Naruto was starting to have horrible flashbacks of his childhood here. It still haunted him to his very core to think of this village, but at the same time, he knew that this would be different. That now, as he is, he wouldn't be treated like a demon by anyone ever again.

"Halt!"  
One of the guards yelled as the group was approaching the gate.  
"State your business."

"Jounin Kakashi Hatake and team seven returning from mission. Also accompanying us are two missing nin and another child seeking an audience with the Hokage."  
Kakashi started then eeped a bit when he was bit on the ankle by Yori. he got the message.  
"And the fox and wolf are with the kid too."

The two at the gate looked at one another before shaking their heads and letting the group through. It was only till Zabuza walked past them that they realized that that was the Demon of the Mist.

The group walked along the streets of Konoha and it was all coming back to the blond. The sights of the buildings, the people running around, kids playing at the park with their families, civilians going about their lives. It was just like Naruto remembered it, just minus the mobs and numerous beatings he took. Other than that, yeah, pretty much the same as before.

The people they were passing while on their way to the Hokage tower were giving the three unknown people, along with the fox and wolf, cautious glances. Especially Zabuza since he had his massive blade in plain view for everyone to see. There were murmurs about the man and it caught Naruto's attention.

"Sounds like you're getting popular already Zabuza-san."  
Naruto teased, knowing that the man was just a little irritated by that.

That was when the group were surrounded by various Anbu. Zabuza looked to be getting ready for a fight, as was Haku, but they stopped when they saw Naruto tell them to calm down. Even though the Anbu looked ready for a fight, the two decided to follow the blonds advice and relaxed. Kakashi and his team looked on and were a little more than surprised to see that those two did as Naruto told them.

"Zabuza Momochi."  
One of the Anbu, a purple haired woman wearing a cat mask, started as she drew her blade.  
"What are you doing here?"

Naruto stepped up to the woman and answered with a smile.  
"They're with me. The Hokage will know me, and he'll want to see me."

"And just who in the hell are you, brat?"  
The woman demanded while still focusing on Zabuza.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki."  
Naruto answered her with that same smile.  
"If you tell that name to the old man, he'll know me."

The woman sneered a bit but relented as she told the others to stand down. They still kept their guard up around the man though.

The rest of the way to the tower was tense and silent. The Anbu kept a close eye on even the slightest movements that Zabuza or Haku made on the way. Once they were there, the purple haired Anbu knocked on the door first.

"Enter."  
They heard the old and gruff voice of the Sandaime Hokage. Team seven along with Zabuza and Haku stepped in. Naruto decided to go in last to really surprise the old man. From what Naruto could hear initially, was a gasp, the sound of swords being unsheathed and maybe one or two threats of death. That was when Naruto walked in with Yori and Emi. The sight he saw was, at least in his honest opinion, a little funny. Zabuza had three swords aimed at his neck, Haku had two ice senbon aimed for two of the Anbu, and the old man was prepared to get involved. That was when Naruto started to chuckle loudly, getting everyone's attention.

"Wow Ji-Ji, I didn't think you were that spry for an old guy."  
Naruto said with a smile when he got himself under control.

Hiruzen saw the blond hair and gasped. There was no way that could be him. Then he saw the blue eyes and his own eyes went wide. Then came the whiskers and that all too familiar smile. That was when Hiruzen stood up and made his way over to the boy who went from only coming to his hip to now being at chest level with the old man. Naruto looked up to the old man and gave him a smile.

"Been a while huh, Ji-Ji?"  
Naruto said to him as he was engulfed in a hug from the old man.

"It's you."  
Hiruzen said to him in a tone that bordered disbelief.  
"You're finally back."

 **[An hour of explanation later]**

Hiruzen was all caught up with both what had happened with the Wave mission and vaguely with what Naruto's been up to since he disappeared all those years ago. I say vaguely because Naruto kept out a lot of things to give himself the one very important trait of any ninja, deception.

During Naruto's 'explanation' on where he went and why he left, it was all coming back to team seven. Moreso to Kakashi than the genin, but Sasuke was starting to remember that night somewhat. Kakashi remembered being assigned to track down a boy that had ran away, yet when he summoned his ninken, they said that the scent just gone and they disappeared out of fear. Why did that happen back then? Scratch that, how did it happen when he was facing that Zabuza clone?

Hiruzen knew he would have to call for a council meeting for both Naruto's return and his request to offer asylum for both Zabuza and Haku. That was going to be hell just waiting for him. There was no way that the council would agree with this. Especially if the Jinchuuriki that they had spent years trying to weaken and beat into the ground had returned home willingly and stronger than nearly all the genin. That would draw suspicions from the more senile members such as that Haruno woman or especially the elders. He dismissed team seven and then proceeded to bring about the request for a council meeting. Time for the shout fest he knew that was on its way.

 **[With Sasuke]**

Sasuke had decided to head out to the park not far from the Hokage tower. After he and his team were dismissed, Sakura had tried to ask him on a date while Kiba wanted to fight him in a spar. Sasuke declined both and left his team. He now sat on a bench and waited patiently all the while getting used to the feel of his sharingan eyes. It was strange at first, seeing everything like that, but after a bit of fiddling with it, he got used to them. As he sat there, he failed to notice that a very small and near unnoticeable snake was watching him in the bushes with great interest.

 **[Another few hours later]**

Sasuke was trying not to fall asleep on the bench. He had went through the chakra controls over a dozen times to pass the time, made a few small fireballs out of boredom, and even threw shuriken's and kunai's to pass the time. Eventually, he had decided to call it quits and head home since it was gettin late.

That was when he heard the door fling open and an angry woman with feral dog like features walk out the building in rage. She looked a lot like Kiba. Maybe she was his mother, who knows.

Another man with pale eyes and pale white yukata stepped out next. He looked somewhat similar to both Neji and Hinata from back in his academy years. He also looked very, upset. Okay, wonder what happened in there.

The next man to walk out was a big guy. Clearly an Akamichi. He looked like he was amused for some reason. Okay, now Sasuke really wanted to know just what the hell happened in there.

The next one to walk out was Zabuza along with both Haku and a smiling Naruto. Sasuke ran up to the three, hoping to get some answers, and fast.

"Naruto-san."  
Sasuke started, getting the blond's attention.

"Sasuke."  
Naruto started in slight surprise.  
"Were you waiting here the entire time? That's some serious dedication you know."

"Heh."  
Sasuke started as Yori jumped up into his arms.  
"So, what happened in there? I saw two clan heads walk out in a fit of rage for some reason. Any reason for that?"

Zabuza started to chuckle under his breath while Haku simply smiled warmly and Naruto scratched the back of his head with a slightly nervous smile.  
"Well. Turns out, I'm the son of the Yondaime Hokage."

* * *

 **I'll show the meeting in a flashback in the next chapter.**

 **Bye-bye.**


	10. Fox in a meeting

**[During the council meeting, flashback]**

Naruto stood in front of the stunned and shocked council members as they watched him in slight awe. None of them had expected to see the demon brat return let alone be this strong and, above all else, alive. Back then, when the anbu couldn't find him or track him down, some of the more bold civilians decided to hire hunter nin to find and kill the boy. When those hunter nin returned empty handed over a year and a half later, the civilians had decided that the boy must've died. That didn't sit all too well with Danzo. He needed that boy to make his ultimate weapon and at the time sent his Root anbu out only to receive the same results. Now, here was the boy standing in front of them all with a big smile and not a care in the world asking for his two ninja friends for asylum. That could only mean one thing.

"OUTRAGEOUS!"

"TAKE THIS DEMON OUT OF HERE!"

"HOKAGE-SAMA, DO YOU REALIZE WHAT THIS MONSTER IS ASKING US?!"

"I SAY WE JUST EXECUTE HIM FOR LEAVING THE VILLAGE!"  
One of the more vocal clan heads, a woman with dog like features, shouted out.

"I AGREE!"  
Another clan head, a Hyuuga, shouted out in agreement along with many other civilians.

"YOU CAN'T REALLY BE CONSIDERING BRINGING THE DEMON BACK INTO OUR HOME HOKAGE-SAMA!"  
A pink haired civilian screamed out, causing both Yori and Emi to cringe as their sensitive ears reacted to her.

Hiruzen cleaned the wax from his ears and answered with a burst of killer intent to shut everyone up.  
"I'm not just considering it, Haruno. I'm allowing it."

This got the intentional reaction of more shouts and threats from both sides. The only ones not involved were the three original members of Ino-Shika-Cho, and the Aburame clan head.

Hiruzen once again flared his KI and shut everyone up again. That was when one of the elders, the female one, noticed the smile on the blond boys face and seethed.

"And what exactly are you smiling about _demon_?"  
She hissed that last part with a bit of venom in her tone.

Naruto just chuckled as he tried his hardest not to burst out in laughter.  
"Is it kinda funny that I missed hearing all of you scream like a bunch of dummies?"  
Naruto asked them with that same smile. Before anyone could rebuttal, Naruto continued.  
"Now now, before someone like Inuzuka-san pops a blood vessel, let me just inform all of you of something that I discovered during my travels."  
At the mention of her clan name, Tsume smelled the scent of an Alpha and shut herself up.

Hiruzen leaned forward in his chair in anticipation. He knew Naruto was hiding something when he explained himself earlier, now he could get some information.

The council, aside from Ino-Shika-Cho and the Aburame clan head, didn't look amused by the demon brat's interruption or whatever he would explain to them. They didn't care about his travels. All they cared about was how to get rid of him like last time, only this time ensuring that he dies. Danzo didn't care about what this boys travels were either. He was just coming up with a plan to ensure he had his weapon, but the next words to come from Naruto would change everything, forever.

Naruto smiled again and started to explain.  
"During my time outside of the village, I discovered many things about myself."  
This caught everyone's attention.  
"One, I'm actually a very good hunter. Two, I can match many of the great swordsmen and women in the elemental nations. Three, I didn't know easy it was to farm your own food before."  
By this time the council was getting annoyed by trivial things the demon was saying, yet Hiruzen just had a feeling that this was heading somewhere. Boy was he in for a shock.  
"And four, I didn't know that the Yondaime sealed the Kyuubi no Kitsune inside of me until I left the village."

This caught them all by surprise as they were about to go into another uproar about the demon influencing him. Hiruzen was partially like this, as he too thought the Kyuubi was influencing him, yet something wasn't right. Naruto seemed very calm and confident that this was going to go his way. Why? If he know knows the Kyuubi was sealed inside of him, then what else did he know and who told him this?

Naruto continued before they could shout some more at him.  
"Before any of you ask, or demand more like, the one that told me this information is actually not that hard to think about."  
This confused them all as Naruto continued after a quick chuckle.  
"Think about it. Who would willingly help me literally after I leave the village and tell me about the Kyuubi sealed inside of me?"

The council were drawing a blank as they were now thinking of multiple suspects now. Who could it have been? That was when Naruto decided to answer in spectacular fashion. Biting his thumb, he went through a certain string of hand seals that was familiar to the shinobi but foreign to the civilians. He raised his hand in the air and brought it down while speaking out.

"Kuchiyose no Juutsu: Kyuubi no Youkai."

A plume of smoke spread around where Naruto was and both Zabuza and Haku stepped back. They had no idea what Naruto was up to at all. The council looked on in confusion as the smoke started to swirl around and only when the saw a large red tail that they realized what Naruto had said earlier. Suddenly, eight other large tails appeared and swirled around to the ceiling. The council were up on their feet as the tails came back down and brushed the smoke away. There stood the demon itself, the Kyuubi no Kitsune.

Only something was different. It was smaller. The size of a horse actually and standing on all fours next to Naruto. It stretched a bit and yawned as it stood there with the boy in the center of the room, its nine tails shrinking to normal like size. It opened its red eyes and the council shuddered in fear, but those eyes held no malice or anger. The Kyuubi just looked around the room, ignoring the fearful stares from everyone aside from his host and huffed.

 **"So this is the council chambers huh?"**  
He said in a voice that wasn't booming but rather casual like.  
 **"Hmm. Kinda thought it would look a little more impressive. Guess it's downgraded since Hashirama-san and Tobirama-san."**

The mere mention of those names caused Hiruzen to raise an eyebrow to the demon fox.  
"You knew the Shodaime and Nidaime hokage?"

Kyuubi looked to Hiruzen with a smirk and answered him.  
 **"Of course I did Hiruzen Sarutobi. I knew all the hokage's."**

Inoichi decided to ask an all to important question all the while ignoring that bad smell from the civilian council.  
"How exactly are you here? Did you manipulate Naruto-kun in any way?"  
His voice may have had resolve, but his mind and body were shaking in terror right now.

Kyuubi looked straight towards Inoichi and gave him a toothy grin that sent shivers down the shinobi sides spines.  
 **"Nope. I just talked to him and explained what I was and how I was sealed within him. Nothing more."**  
Kyuubi looked to Naruto who nodded to him, almost like he was confirming something to the large fox.  
 **"Another few things I told and showed Naruto-kun was his heritage."**

At the sound of that, Hiruzen paled as he looked straight towards Naruto, who was giving him a sly grin. The council was at a loss as they had no clue what the infamous Kyuubi was talking about. That was when Tsume once again ran her mouth the wrong way.

"Impossible! This demonic pup is an orphan! He has no family!"

Kyuubi looked straight at her and hardened his eyes for a moment, causing the woman to freeze in place.  
 **"I suggest you watch who you're talking to bitch. I wouldn't mind mounting that loud mouth of yours and taming you in the roughest of ways possible, so shut your mouth unless spoken to. Understood?"**  
Tsume shuddered and practically shrunk in her seat. The scent that was initially coming off the boy was not even in the Kyuubi's league.  
 **"Now then. Hiruzen-san, you know exactly what I mean. So why don't you stop being a coward a tell them. Tell them all just who the boy's parents are, and then accept what we offer."**

All eyes were on Hiruzen who just sighed. It was times like this that just made him feel too old for this shit.  
"What the Kyuubi says is true. Naruto-kun does indeed have a heritage and an inheritance that he seems to want now."

"And what heritage is that Hokage-sama?"  
Hiashi practically demanded.

"Simple Hiashi-san."  
Hiruzen sighed deeply before answering.  
"Naruto Uzumaki's parents were Kushina Uzumaki and the Yondaime himself, Minato Namikaze."

The words struck through everyone in a multitude of different ways. Some a little less than others.

The Ino-Shika-Cho were stunned to know that Naruto was Minato's son. The similarities were right there, they just hadn't bothered to look at them out of grief. They were old friends of Minato and would have gladly adopted Naruto into either of their families if they knew the truth.

Tsume went wide eyed at this. She was a close friend to Kushina back in their academy days. Tsume had made a promise to the woman that whenever she decides to have a pup of her own, that she would be their for him or her. To know now that the demon brat that her clan used to torture and hunt down to hurt all those years ago was Kushina's son. She felt like Kushina was ready to come back from Kami's embrace just to beat the hell out of her for hurting her son.

Hiashi couldn't believe it. Naruto was the son of the Yondaime? Impossible. When the elders hear of this, who knew what would happen to the clan. A thought occurred to him that just might quell the elders though.

Shibi Aburame simply sat there, indifferent. Yes he was shocked, but he didn't let it show since he didn't really know the forth or his wife all too well.

The civilian side along with the elders were in absolute disbelief. This is the worst news that they could have heard. The civilians because now they couldn't get rid of the last Uzumaki and Namikaze, it would make their village look horrible to the other villages. Danzo knew that mow his plans were completely done. Not only has Naruto revealed that he has the ability to summon the Kyuubi no Kitsune at will, but now he has a heritage of being the Yondaime's son. He would need a new plan. One that would heavily involve that snake even moreso than before.

"So."  
Naruto started with that same smile on his face once more.  
"Seeing as though I have that heritage, I would like to have the Namikaze estate and all assets of both my parents transferred to me. I would also like for both Zabuza Momochi and Haku under the protection of the Namikaze name and for them to have citizenship within Konoha."  
Naruto watched the civilian side cringe at hearing these demands and chuckled under his breath. He then looked to the shinobi side, more specifically to Tsume, and thought to himself that it was time for a little payback.  
"And I would like a fine to be paid to me by the following clans that attacked me as a child. The Inuzuka, Hyuuga, and Akamichi clans."

At hearing this, Hiashi jumped to his feet in rage.  
"You dare accuse my clan of attacking you demon?!"  
He received a sly grin from both Naruto and Kyuubi and seethed.  
"I will not agree to pay a single ryo to you!"

"Oh no. Money isn't the fine for you Hyuuga."  
Naruto smirked as he saw the confused faces of the three clan heads in question.  
"The Akamichi clan once tried to poison me back then, so what I want from them is a simple apology for caving to threats from outside forces that won't be named."

Choza stood up immediately and said to Naruto.  
"You have my word that you'll receive more than just that Naruto-kun. From all three of us."  
Naruto raised a brow as Inoichi and Shikaku stood up as well.  
"The three of us knew your father from back then, and we all want to deeply apologize for not knowing this news sooner."

The three men bowed and Kyuubi nodded to Naruto to confirm that they were being completely genuine and sincere. Naruto nodded and accepted the apology, but then he turned to Hiashi and that smirk appeared once again.

"From you and the Hyuuga clan, I wish to take one member of your main family for when I know the civilian council will enact the CRA on me."  
Naruto saw the pale eyes of the man widen as he his plans went through a snag now. The elders would probably try and get a certain Hyuuga to follow through with this and marry the brat when the CRA hits him. That would at least grant them more power in the village. The brat just made a grave mistake according to Hiashi's thoughts, but those thoughts were quickly shattered at Naruto's next words.  
"I remember there was this one girl from your clan who was genuinely nice to me. If memory serves me right, I think her name was Hinata. I'll have her from your clan Hiashi."

Hiashi seethed as he knew there was no way that his daughter, with her foolish ideas of uniting both main and branch families, would ever agree to anything the elders would tell her. Oh well, guess that meant he would have to brand her with the caged bird seal. That thought had him now looking face to face with a rather annoyed looking Kyuubi.

 **"You place that seal on her, and I'll ensure that your clan knows the true meaning of fear."**

Hiashi tried to keep his composure, but wound up shaking and nodding hesitantly instead.

Naruto chuckled and then turned his attention to Tsume. The woman shuddered at that sly smirk on his face and trembled even harder when she saw Kyuubi looking right at her, daring her to speak out again.

"And from you Tsume Inuzuka."  
Naruto started at her, enjoying the once terrifying woman that gave so many orders to her dogs an clans to attack him, shake at the sound of his voice.  
"I want three ninken directly from your kennel."

Tsume went wide eyed and couldn't form coherent sentences or words. This pup, one with a dominating scent and a clear Alpha presence, had basically ordered her to give him three of their own precious ninken. What could she do? She couldn't just ignore or reject him for fear of what the Kyuubi would do. She couldn't deny him anymore because of her guilty conscious anymore at realizing that this boy was Kushina's pup. All she could do was nodded her head slowly and accept these terms, though she would have a lot to answer for in the future. She knew that much for sure.

 **[End flashback]**

Sasuke stood there, jaw dropped at what he just heard. Not only is Naruto the son of the Yondaime and had just basically demanded his birthright among other things, he was also like him in a sense. The last of a clan. Now Sasuke felt as if he really wasn't alone.

That's when everything else just clicked in his head. Naruto had the Kyuubi no Kitsune sealed within him? That explains a lot really, like how he's so strong and sometimes seen 'talking' to both Emi and Yori.

"Alright then."  
Naruto started, breaking Sasuke out of his stupor.  
"I'm heading towards the Inuzuka compound to get those three ninken. You wanna come with Sasuke?"

"I would, but I should get home since it's so late."  
Sasuke answered him while scratching the back of his head.

"It's cool."  
Naruto said to him with a smile.  
"Since you just got back from the Wave mission, how about this. Come by the Namikaze estate at around seven in the morning. I have just the right method to teach you kenjuutsu now that you have your sharingan."

Sasuke gave him a smirk and nodded before heading out, excited for training for the first time in years.

* * *

 **So that's basically what happened during the meeting. Hope you guys enjoyed that.**

 **The next chapter will have Naruto training Sasuke.**

 **Bye-bye.**


	11. A deal with a Fox

**[The next day]**

Sasuke had a pretty damn good sleep for once since the massacre, and it was mainly from anticipation. The anticipation of training with Naruto and becoming stronger in the process. He had no idea just what kind of training Naruto was going to use, but one thing was for sure, he knew that he would learn so much more from the blond than his actual sensei. That was for a fact.

Getting up from his bed at six thirty in the morning, Sasuke prepared for the day as best as he could. He showered, got dressed, and grabbed his supplies. He knew that this would be difficult no matter what, but at least he would learn new things he wouldn't before. That little mask of being a loner was gone now and Sasuke fully embraced his new self. He looked at himself in the mirror and activated his sharingan. He smirked and nodded his head before deactivating it and heading out to the newly opened Namikaze estate.

 **[Ten minutes later, Namikaze gate]**

Sasuke made it to the Namikaze estate with no problems at all, but he did feel as if someone was watching him. He pushed those thoughts out of his mind and went to the large metal gate that had a white piece of paper marked 'seal' on it. He went to it and was about to knock before Yori leapt at him from a tree and landed in his arms. He snuggled up to Sasuke and the teen in turn petted the adorable fox. The seal on the gate disappeared and the gate opened for Sasuke, expecting him it seems.

He walked in and was in a large courtyard that he couldn't see before when he was outside the gate. The gate closed and the seal was placed back on, much to the anger of a few following eyes, and Sasuke saw that the courtyard was filled with many lush bushes filled with flowers of many types and colors. The trees around the estate made for very little sunlight to enter into the area, but the bits and pieces that did showed such beauty all around. Sasuke saw the large, and I do mean large, estate that was in the center of a makeshift lake. The lake wasn't large but big enough to have the estate on it. The water was crystal clear and reflected the small patches of sunlight that passed by the trees. The building was a large, mostly white building with an orange roof and windows all around. Sasuke was in awe of what he was seeing and wanted to get an even closer look, only problem being that there was no bridge or boat across the lake.

"How the hell am I supposed to-"  
Was all Sasuke could let out when he heard rustling behind him. He turned around and saw Emi coming towards him.  
"Emi?"

Emi went to him and he petted her for a bit, much to her amusement and then she parted from his hand. She looked to the estate and channeled chakra into her paws as did Yori. Sasuke saw this and wondered just what they were doing. It was at that moment that he had an idea and activated his sharingan. He saw what they were doing and watched them leap onto the water only to stand on it perfectly. They both looked at Sasuke, expecting him to follow and Sasuke decided to imitate them. He took a deep breath as he channeled his chakra to his feet like the tree walking Naruto taught him back in Wave and took a step. To his surprise, he didn't instantly sink down. He took another step, then another one and another until he was standing next to Emi and an excited Yori. The two ran towards the estate followed by the Uchiha and they made it to through the short run.

They now stood in front of a large door that opened to show Naruto standing there with a small black dog with red eyes within his arms. He was wearing a white shirt and some black shorts and looked very relaxed. He saw Sasuke with Emi and Yori and smiled.

"Hey Sasuke. Happy to see you learn faster with your sharingan. Come on in."  
Naruto said as he let the three in.

Sasuke removed his shoes and looked around the large room. Marble walls, a staircase leading to the second floor, tiled floors, nice carpets, and even had a large picture on the wall showing the forth and a woman with red hair. Sasuke assumed that that must've been Kushina Uzumaki, Naruto's mother. She was beautiful and the sight of her smile made Sasuke smile as well.

"Yo, Sasuke!"  
Naruto yelled out from all the way across a hall leading to the back. This broke Sasuke out of his wondering eyes as he looked over to Naruto.  
"Come one, I've got someone I want you to meet."

Sasuke nodded and quickly ran over to follow Naruto. He now stood in a large training grounds in the backyard. He looked around before seeing Naruto set the small black dog down next to two other dogs. One was white with blacked out eyes and wolfish features, and the last was golden with light blue eyes. That last one reminded Sasuke of Naruto in dog form.

Speaking of Naruto, he walked over to Sasuke and motioned for him to sit down. Sasuke obliged and waited for what Naruto was going to say or do.

"Okay Sasuke."  
Naruto started as he also sat down in front of Sasuke. They were quickly joined by the three dogs, who were around Naruto, Emi and Yori, who was in Sasuke's lap rather comfortably.  
"Me and one other person debated long and hard about this all night, and we have come to a decision that'll help you out in the long run. But just fair warning Sasuke."  
Naruto started to get serious, surprising Sasuke and causing the dogs to shudder a bit.  
"Under no circumstances are you to reveal how you obtained what we're about to give you. Understood?"

Sasuke was taken aback completely by this sudden change in Naruto's tone. He went from happy-go-lucky to very serious in a mere instant, and that caused him to swallow the lump in his throat before answering with some resolve in his voice.  
"I understand, Naruto-sensei."

Naruto raised an eyebrow at the added 'sensei' part to his name, but decided to go with it and smirked.  
"Alright then. Guys."  
Naruto talked to the canines around him.  
"Go sit next to Sasuke while I bring him out, okay."

The dogs barked up to him in a gesture Sasuke assumed meant 'okay' and they sat around him. Naruto stood up and walked a little ways away from them all before stopping and turning around. He bit his thumb and went through several hand seals too fast for anyone to see, then raised his hand into the air. Before he slammed it down, he yelled out so they all could hear.

"Kuchiyose no Juutsu: Kyuubi no Youkai!"

A large puff of smoke later, and Sasuke looked on in both awe and amazement at the large fox the size of a rather large dog with nine tails moving around behind it. The Kyuubi no Kitsune stretched a few times before looking over to the stunned Sasuke and his bowing descendants. Naruto was right next to him and the two exchanged a look before nodding and going over to the raven haired teen.

 **"So."**  
Kyuubi spoke as he sat directly next to Naruto and watched Sasuke like a hawk.  
 **"Naruto tells me that you wish to become stronger. To seek your brother out and discover the truth to what really happened to your clan. Is that right Sasuke, or is my hearing just off?"**

Sasuke tried and failed to not shake with a slight fear towards the Kyuubi. But a quick and deep breath later and a reassuring smile from both Naruto and Yori, and Sasuke found his voice once again.  
"Yes. That's exactly right Kyuubi-san."  
Sasuke continued when he saw Kyuubi nodded for him to do so.  
"My brother may have been a lot of things and done many things he's not too proud of, but in the end he is still my brother. My family, and I know he along with everyone in the village expects me to seek revenge and lust after power, but the only thing I want is the truth. I want to know what really happened and bring whoever is responsible to justice, and after that, I just wish to move on with my life."

Kyuubi was more than a little surprised by Sasuke's answer. Naruto had a big smile and was nodding in a proud motion. Emi simply smiled at him while the dogs and Yori snuggled up to him, wanting him to pet them. Kyuubi chuckled a bit under his breath, getting everyone's attention. He then burst into laughter, surprising everyone except for Naruto. Sasuke had no idea what was so funny, but decided to wait for his answer. It didn't take long as Kyuubi eventually stopped to look at the confused teen and descendants of his.

 **"It really has been too long since I've met an Uchiha like you Sasuke."**  
Sasuke perked up at hearing this, but held his tongue for now.  
 **"You know, I was there all those years ago when Madara Uchiha was defeated by Hashirama Senju. He was an Uchiha that acquired his power through very brutal and senseless methods, trying to attain his own twisted version of 'peace'. Hmph."**  
Kyuubi huffed before continuing.  
 **"Most Uchiha seek power to conquer and triumph over their foes and one of those ways is by attaining the Mangekyo Sharingan."**

Sasuke raised a brow.  
"I've never heard of the Mangekyo Sharingan before. What is it?"

 **"An advanced sharingan that allows its user to see the truth of all creation without obstruction."**  
Kyuubi answered.  
 **"Throughout the Uchiha history it is said that killing your best friend is what activates it. To that end, many of the Uchiha clan have killed their closest friend to obtain power, but the Uchiha clan misinterpret this."**

"What do yo mean 'misinterpret' Kyu-san?"  
Naruto asked the fox demon.

 **"You obtain the Mangekyo by witnessing the death of the one closest to you, not killing them."**  
Those words rang out to Sasuke all too well. Then he remembered something from the night of the massacre.

"Does the Mangekyo have a pinwheel type of look to it?"  
Kyuubi looked right at Sasuke and nodded.  
"Itachi had those same eyes the night of the massacre."

"Then that means he killed his best friend to do so."  
Naruto said, realization hitting him as he saw Sasuke's face fall.  
"That means he wanted the power beforehand. I'm sorry about that Sasuke."

Sasuke took another deep breath and looked back at the Kyuubi and Naruto with resolve and determination in his eyes. This surprised the both of them as they heard Sasuke's next words.  
"I will never allow myself to be seduced by that power. I will become stronger the right way and I will confront my brother to know the truth. I don't know much about Madara or my clans past, but I swear from this day forward, I will do everything in my power to change its future."

Both Naruto and Kyuubi went wide eyed and decided that now was a very good time to do this. Kyuubi stood up and both of his tails came towards the confused Uchiha.

 **"Then this will be an easy decision to make then."**  
Kyuubi said as a contract appeared from the tips of his tails.  
 **"This is the same contract that I gave Naruto when he first left the village all those years ago. He is the only one who possesses this demon contract, Sasuke. It allows him to do things that no one else can do, and I want you to sign it.** "

Sasuke looked at the contract, only seeing Naruto's name in blood, and looked to the blond. Naruto nodded at him and smiled. That was all the confirmation that he needed as he took the contract.

"What do I need to do?"  
Sasuke asked them both. His answer came when Naruto took his hand and slit his thumb.

"Sign your name on it and relax, cause we don't know what'll happen afterwards."  
Naruto said to him, a little fearful at the unknowns that were present.

Sasuke caught that and took a deep breath. He didn't know what might happen, but he knew one thing for a fact, he trusted Naruto and Kyuubi. He would need all the help he could get when he brings about change for his clan.

He signed the contract and gave it back to Kyuubi. The demon fox took it into his tail and they all waited for anything to happen. Suffice to say, nothing. Nothing was happening to the Uchiha at all, and that was worrying the two a bit.

Sasuke felt nothing at first and thought that maybe he did something wrong. That all changed when he felt a sharp pain in his eyes and throughout the rest of his body. Naruto told the canines to get behind him and Kyuubi as Sasuke started to fall back. He placed his hands onto his eyes and screamed in pain as they started to bleed though his fingers. It was a gruesome sight for the dogs, but the rest just sat there at the ready in case something went horribly wrong.

Sasuke began to thrash around as his blue chakra started to leak from his body. There was something else in it that caught Kyuubi and Naruto's attention. There was black flame within his chakra. As they watched, they saw that clack flame spread throughout Sasuke's chakra and turn it completely black with blue flames coming off of it.

There was an explosion of both a black fire and blue lighting shooting up into the air before Sasuke stopped thrashing and passed out. Naruto and Kyuubi told the rest to stay put as they saw both Zabuza and Haku show up, ready for a fight.

Naruto went over to the downed teen and checked his neck, relieved that there was indeed a pulse.  
"That's a relief."  
He said before Sasuke opened his eyes suddenly.

Naruto and Kyuubi went wide eyed at the sight and backed away slightly when Sasuke sat up. Sasuke noticed this and raised an eyebrow before rubbing the blood from his face.  
"What just happened?"

 _"Is he okay?"_  
Came an unfamiliar voice to Sasuke, one that sounded like a little boy.

 _"I hope so."_  
Another voice, a little girl spoke up as well.

Sasuke looked behind Naruto and the Kyuubi only to see Emi, Yori and those three dogs sitting there.

 _"Why's he looking right at us like that?"_  
The golden dog asked Emi in a that first voice from before.

 _"Because now he can understand all of us."_  
Emi answered him with a smile that caused the three pups to look to Sasuke with wonder in their eyes.

"I can hear them talking."  
Sasuke started with wide eyes.

Naruto smirked and motioned for them all to come over towards him. They obliged and stood next to them all.  
"Well I guess that means it worked. Though those eyes of yours freaked the two of us out a bit. Sorry about that."

"What's wrong with my eyes?"  
Sasuke asked him.

Naruto gave him a kunai and he held it up to see for himself. What Sasuke saw shocked him. His eyes had changed completely now. His entire eye was blacked out with only his pupils having a crimson hue to them. His irises were circled by a rotating black flame with some kind of black flower symbol in the center of it.

"Whoa."  
Sasuke said to himself as he looked at both his eyes and saw they were indeed the same.  
"What is this?"

 **"Hmm."**  
Kyuubi started as he looked into Sasuke's eyes closely.  
 **"It looks like a mixture of the sharingan and the demonic energy that now resides inside of you. The contract does grant you demonic energy, but maybe since I'm inside of Naruto regulating that energy constantly while you don't posses a demon could be the cause for this."**  
He motioned to the new eyes Sasuke had.  
 **"By my experience, I've never seen nor have I ever heard of a sharingan like this. It seems, Sasuke, that you have a new dojuutsu."**

The very thought of this, coupled with the fact that that whole ordeal was incredibly painful, caused Sasuke's mind to do the one thing it could in this situation.

Pass out.

* * *

 _ **Hope ya'll like this little twist I'm doin with Sasuke's sharingan. It is still the sharingan but my own version. Also I don't know if this particular design is real or not, so if it is could someone please tell me the name and if it isn't I'll just make up one. Lol.**_

 _ **The next chapter will have an explanation for what these new eyes can do and will also show who was following Sasuke around earlier. Till then...**_

 _ **Bye-bye.**_


	12. An Uchiha's new Life

**[An hour later]**

Sasuke finally woke up to the sound of multiple voices talking at once. Some were familiar like Naruto's, Zabuza and Haku's voices. Others weren't too familiar like Emi and those pups. He opened his still transformed eyes to see the happy smile of Yori right in front of him.

 _"Sasuke's awake!"_  
The fox yelled out to the others as he started licking Sasuke's face cheerfully.

Sasuke stirred awake and sat up with Yori snuggled into his chest. Naruto, Zabuza, Haku, Emi and the other pups went over to him. Sasuke was still a little dazed and confused at what just happened, but after hearing Naruto's explanation, he nodded.

"Also."  
Naruto started continued he crouched down to him, holding a small mirror to the teen.  
"It looks like those eyes of yours are kinda permanent."

Sasuke looked onto himself in the small mirror and went wide eyed. His eyes were the exact same as before, down to the last detail from before.  
"So, any idea what these eyes can do?"  
He asked as he looked up to Naruto.

Only when he did see him, he could see other things around Naruto as well. Sasuke saw yellow cracks of lightning shooting around him, red kindles flame circling him, dark earth at his feet, clear blue water at his heels, and a green wisps of wind all around him like a barrier. Sasuke could also see Kyuubi within the blond watching him intently. Sasuke looked towards Zabuza and Haku and could see the same water at their heels as well, though Haku also had that wind as well. She also had ice forming in the shapes of crystals floating around her. Sasuke then looked at the canines around him and saw that they all had one element around them like the humans in the room. Yori had the wisps of fire around him along with two balls of flame floating behind his tail. Two of the three pups were covered in a barrier of wind with a ball of air above their heads. Both Emi and the white haired pup each had lightning crackling around them, only Emi's was yellow while the pup's was a vibrant blue.

"Whoa."  
Sasuke said, a little startled, as he continued to look at everyone in the room with those wide eyes.

"What's up kid?"  
Zabuza started in a bit of an irritated tone.

"You seem a bit disturbed, Sasuke-kun."  
Haku said in a worried tone.

"Yeah Sasuke. Tell us what you see."  
Naruto said to him with a smirk, curious as to what these new sharingan eyes can see now.

"I see, elements. All around everyone here."  
Sasuke started as he looked to Yori then to Naruto. They all went wide eyed at what he just said, but Sasuke continued.  
"Naruto-sensei, I can see Kyuubi inside of you watching as well."

 _"Cool."_  
Yori said in an excited yip on Sasuke's lap.

"Heh."  
Sasuke chuckled as he pet the fox soothingly.  
"Thanks Yori."

"So I take it that the demon contract worked perfectly then Kyu-san?"  
Naruto asked the demon fox inside of him.

 _ **"Looks like."**_  
Kyuubi started.  
 _ **"It also looks like his own dojuutsu has been modified with the contract itself, and thus giving him a sharingan that can see things a standard or even advanced sharingan could not see. Impressive."**_

Naruto was about to relay the same message to Sasuke, but the Uchiha interrupted him.

"I heard him."  
Sasuke said, shocking the blond and confusing the the others.

"You can hear him, Sasuke?"  
Naruto received a nod from the Uchiha in response and grinned.  
"Great. That'll make training a whole lot simpler."  
He turned to the others with that same grin.  
"Alright guys, we're gonna spend all day training Sasuke to use his new sharingan eyes properly. Since he has control of his chakra, we'll need to focus on helping him use his new eyes effectively both in battle and in intelligence gathering. Zabuza-san, you'll help me teach him kenjuutsu both in your style and later on in mine."

"Alright kid."  
Zabuza nodded, impressed by Naruto's leadership skills.

"Haku-chan, you'll help train him in precision accuracy and medical techniques."  
Naruto continued to his Ice-Hime.

She smiled and nodded to him.

As this was going on, Sasuke was still trying to adjust to his new eyes and sight. It wasn't really freaking him out or causing him to panic, it's just that he had no control of the range. He had tried to pump less chakra into them and somehow wound up seeing other chakra signatures far away from the compound. Most likely in the village. He pumped more chakra and saw multiple signatures everywhere. And when I say everywhere, I mean EVERYWHERE. There was chakra signatures all around him that he couldn't even see the people and canines in the room with him. He stopped trying to deactivate it like he would his regular sharingan and everything was back to the way it was before. He would have to figure out a way to control this or at the very least lessen its effect on his sight. Concealing it was gonna be impossible if anyone saw this. The council would be all over him and that would get in the way of his training. Not to mention that if word got out that it was the newly returning 'Demon' of Konoha, then it would have serious backlash for his blond teacher. The weirdest thing so far though was definitely the fact that now he could understand the canines in the room perfectly. It was strange to him to hear them talking so casually, like nothing was wrong at all.

"Okay then Sasuke."  
Naruto broke him out of his thoughts as he offered a hand.  
"Lets start your training, and trust me, by the end of today, you'll be walking out of this compound almost a completely different ninja. I guarantee it."

Sasuke smirked and nodded as he took Naruto's hand to begin his brand new training.

 **[Outside the compound]**

A certain, pale skinned ninja was watching the last Uchiha since he left his compound earlier that day. He wore a black ninja top that was cut off around his midsection, and Anbu cargo pants along with standard ninja sandals. He was ordered earlier today by Danzo to watch for any strange behavior from the Uchiha all day. The pale ninja never asked questions as he knew that Danzo-sama was truly wise and wanted Konoha's best interests unlike the current Hokage, so he followed his orders with no hesitation.

He followed Sasuke all the way from the Uchiha district to the Namikaze estate. The pale ninja had never been to this part of the village before or even knew what was beyond the gate thanks to the powerful seal on it, but he knew that the 'demon' resided there, claiming to be the Yondaime's son. The pale ninja thought that this was a preposterous idea until Danzo told him it was true. This would push Danzo-sama's plans back now but he needed the Uchiha to be unchanged by the blond.

The pale ninja watched as a fox leapt into Sasuke's arms and the seal on the gate disappeared. The gate opened to reveal for a brief moment, Namikaze estate, and it was spectacular in the pale ninja's eyes. But as quickly as he saw the estate, as quickly as it disappeared. The ninja looked down and saw that Sasuke had went inside and simply vanished. The seal on the gate was restored and all life inside of it was completely blocked from the outside world. The pale ninja huffed at how he was distracted before deciding to return to Danzo.

The pale ninja returned to his master not too long after the Uchiha enter the estate and was now kneeling to a seated Danzo.  
"Danzo-sama, I've come to report on the Uchiha."

Danzo looked to the ninja and stopped whatever he was doing.  
"Sai. I told you to watch the Uchiha all day and report only anything he does that is truly out of character for him. I had better hear something worth my time and nothing minor or boring."

Sai bowed his head and answered.  
"Hai, Danzo-sama. I followed the Uchiha until he entered into the Namikaze estate."  
Danzo perked up at that last part and continued to listen.  
"When he did, I could no longer do anything to track him because of the powerful barrier around the area. I apologize for losing him Danzo-sama."

"Damn."  
Danzo started, clenching his cane harder till his knuckles were white. This surprised Sai as he has never seen Danzo angry before.  
"That damn demon brat. Ruins my plans by leaving all those years ago and now he ruins my plans I currently hold? Dammit!"  
He broke his cane with some chakra to his hand.  
"Sai. Watch Sasuke Uchiha very carefully. I want to know everything that boy does that is completely different from how his psyche profile describes him. I want you to find a seal master to infiltrate the Namikaze estate whenever Sasuke goes there and continue to monitor him, and I want you to keep an eye out for anyone suspicious come the Chunin exams. Understood?"

"Hai, Danzo-sama."  
Sai answered with a bow before leaving the seething old man in his room.

"That brat will cause me too much problems now."  
Danzo started as he rested his head on his one good arm. He undid the folds on his robe and pulled out his right arm to reveal a grotesque appendage with several sharingan eyes embedded into it. Danzo looked at his arm and sighed.  
"I'll need to reschedule Orochimaru's visit just a bit now."

* * *

 _ **The next chapter will have a time skip in it to the Chunin exams. Mainly just when Gaara, Temari and Kankuro show up. Lol.**_

 _ **I'm not gonna have Sasuke get the curse mark BTW. Just no point in my opinion.**_

 _ **Bye-bye.**_


	13. Chunin exams: Test, Forest Oh my!

**[A few weeks later]**

It had been a few weeks now and Sasuke had learned so much from Naruto and Kyuubi. He learned that his new sharingan eyes were more less like the Mangekyo Sharingan on steroids. It could do a whole list of things from basic to advanced genjuutsu's, lightning storms, flames that can burn though anything, seeing the affinities of any ninja nearby, detecting traps with ease, deactivating enemy genjuutsu's, showing movements of enemies before they even move, copy both ninjuutsu and kenjuutsu with ease making training a breeze, and even cut off Naruto's connection with Kyuubi. That last part was absolutely terrifying to Naruto as he couldn't communicate with Kyu-san for an entire week or use the fox demon's chakra. That was a very odd week for the blond.

Sasuke also mastered summoning in less than a week. Now he could summon either Yori for his Katon juutsu's or the white pup that Naruto gave to him for his Raiton juutsu's. Sasuke took a very quick liking to his white haired wolf companion and took to calling him Yuki because his white fur reminded the Uchiha of snow. Yuki was very happy to have a master like Sasuke.

Since the his new eyes were indeed permanent, with even chakra depletion not even getting rid them, Sasuke constantly had a genjuutsu to make his eyes appear normal. Fortunately, the ability to see other ninja's affinities was still there.

Kakashi and Hiruzen were getting suspicious of the two though and that wasn't all too good for either of them. Kakashi because he was trying very hard to train Sasuke to use the sharingan properly and thought him spending his time training with Naruto was a waste. He assumed that because of the way Sasuke kept trying to wield a sword whenever the two were training outside of the estate. Unbeknown to him though was the fact that Sasuke was actually on par with Zabuza in the mans own style and nearly at the same level as Naruto in the blonds style. Hiruzen was a problem because he would try and get Naruto to reveal more of what he was doing in the estate. Since the Namikaze estate was completely invisible to the outside world no matter what, it was impossible for the third Hokage to know what was going on in there.

Danzo had been a very angered man, same with most of the council. The elders wanted the demon brat gone now more than ever after that little display he did of bringing the Kyuubi no Kitsune in their village. The civilians saw him as an influence on the last Uchiha and a bad one at that. They wanted action against the demon and they wanted it to be all the top shinobi's to deal with it. Thanks to both the Hokage and the shinobi council, that action was quickly deterred. Danzo had found out that Sasuke had been going to the Namikaze estate rather frequently. He would still train with his team, but the old war hawk knew something wasn't right. The teen's psyche profile had no mention of him being a team player now or a being generous to others. Sasuke was clearly hiding something during his time with the demon. What it was, Danzo had no idea, and the hunt for a seal master proved useless since the seal on the estate is a blood seal that only a select few could enter.

Right now, Naruto was walking along the streets of Konoha with Haku looking for some groceries and ingredients for when Hinata showed up to the estate. Ever since the meeting and whenever he had any off time when not training Sasuke, Naruto would venture to the Hyuuga compound and spend time with the Hyuuga heiress. They got to know each other well much to Hiashi's anger and disappointment in his daughter's 'weakness'. Tonight would be the night he would invite her over to the estate for dinner with him and Haku. Surprisingly enough, Hinata was ecstatic to be later on wed to Naruto even if she had to share with Haku. Those two hit it off just fine too and became good friends whenever Naruto brought Haku over to see Hinata.

As they walked, Naruto knew that he and Haku were getting glares from everyone around them. He didn't really care for that as long as they didn't bother to attack them. Everywhere they went was plagued with villagers who wanted nothing to do with the demon or his, and this is their words, 'demon whore'. That phrase was quickly stopped though not by Naruto but by Haku herself using her Hyoton to scare many of them.

"So Ice-Hime."  
Naruto started to her as they left another market with fresh produce. Even if the owners overcharged them, it's not like Naruto couldn't pay it with his new position as head of the Namikaze clan.  
"What do you think Hinata is gonna like tonight?"

Haku placed a finger on her chin as she thought of that for a moment. She soon snapped her fingers in an almost eureka-like way.  
"Cinnamon buns and curry. That's what she told me she likes one time."

"Cool. Then that's what we'll make for her."  
Naruto said to her with a happy smile.  
"Now lets go and get some nice herbal tea. I hear that store is pretty-"

He was cut off when he saw the weirdest thing behind Haku and down a street. A little boy he had seen in the Hokage's office a few times running away from a teen in a cat suit for some reason. With a sigh and handing Haku the scroll that he stored all their ingredients into, he went after the boy and the teen.

"GET BACK HERE YOU BRAT!"  
The teen in the cat suit shouted out as he finally caught the boy.  
"Got ya."  
And in a fraction of a second, the boy was gone and replaced with a cardboard box.  
"What the-"

"You know, it's not very nice to chase a kid around like that in what you're wearing mister cat suit man."  
Naruto said from behind the other teen. That teen turned quickly and leapt back when he saw the smiling blond with the boy right next to him.  
"So, who exactly are you supposed to be? You're clearly from Suna judging by your headband."

The teen was about to retort when another teen, around his age, made her way towards them.  
"Dammit Kankuro!"  
The blond girl yelled out.  
"Any particular reason you just decided to run around like a damn idiot-"

She stopped almost instantly when she saw Naruto standing there in front of her brother. Naruto simply smiled at her and waved, causing her to look away for a moment.

"Okay then, I see two Suna nin here both around my own age, so that must mean that the Chunin exams are taking place here in Konoha."  
Naruto started in a cheery tone.  
"So where's your third teammate?"

"That's none of your concern kid."  
Kankuro sneered out, only to be smacked in the back of the head by the girl.  
"What the hell Temari?"

"We're guest in this village and you're being an ass right now. Deal with it."  
Temari finished as she looked at Naruto and continued.  
"Anyway, yes. We are here for the Chunin exams this year. As for our third teammate-"

"I can speak for myself Temari."  
A new and very stoic voice rang out, causing the two newcomers to freeze in what looked like fear.

Naruto looked up to a tree and saw a boy with red hair and a large gourd on his back hanging upside down on a tree branch. He looked off to the blond, yet something felt familiar as well. Like there was something about this guy that Naruto felt slightly drawn to.

The red head was staring at Naruto, hard. A little too hard if we're being honest. He disappeared in a swirl of sand and reappeared in front of the two san nin. They were surprise and tense, the little boy hid behind Naruto, Naruto cocked his head to the side and continued to look at the red head unfazed.

 _ **"Naruto."**_  
Kyuubi spoke up to the blond boy.

 _'What's up Kyu-san.'_  
Naruto answered him in his mind.

 _ **"This boy is like you. He has one of the nine tailed beast inside of him. My brother Shukaku. The Ichibi Tanuki."**_  
Kyuubi finished with a stifled chuckle.

"Huh."  
Naruto started, looking right at the boy who had a look that straight up said 'I want to kill you right now'.  
"So you're just like me."  
This caught the red heads attention.  
"You're alone, hurt, treated like a demon because you posses one inside of you."

This caught the red head by surprise completely.  
"What do you know about me?"  
He nearly growled out.

"Because."  
Naruto lifted his shirt to show him the seal on his stomach, shocking them all.  
"I'm just like you. A Jinchuuriki."

The red head went wide eyed and looked the blond right in his sky blue eyes. He couldn't believe it himself, someone exactly like him but not driven crazy and filled with blood lust. How? How could someone like him be standing there smiling as if noting is wrong if his life has been full of heartache and pain? The very thought of it made the monster in his head scream for his blood.

Naruto could see the conflict and confusion in the red heads eyes and lowered his shirt. He placed his hand under his chin in a thinking pose and then snapped his fingers.  
"Hey, whats your name?"

The red head shook away the monster and answered through gritted teeth.  
"Gaara."

"Well Gaara, can I see your seal. I think something could be wrong with it."  
Naruto asked him, surprising the two behind Gaara in the process at how casual he was talking to their teammate. Naruto looked at the seal extensively and gave a thoughtful 'hmm'.  
"Well that explains a lot."

"What does?"  
Temari asks him, concern in her voice at the thought of getting her brother back.

"This seal is completely janked."  
Naruto said without looking up to them.  
"I can fix that though, just not here."  
He stood up and looked straight at Gaara, who had a completely baffled look on his face.  
"Come to my estate sometime before the exams, and I'll fix the seal for you Gaara. Even make it so you can sleep too."  
All three of them went wide eyed as Gaara nodded to him.

After Naruto told them where his estate was, the three Suna nin left the little boy and Naruto standing there. Naruto turned to the boy and left before he could ask who the blond was. Naruto regrouped with Haku and the two left the market to head home, unaware of the prying eyes watching them from afar.

* * *

 **[Chunin exams, a few days later]**

Seeing as though our favorite blond cannot participate in the exams due to not being an official ninja to the village yet, he's not allowed into the building. During those few days before the exams, Naruto had trained Sasuke as best as he could, which was a little too easy at some points, taught him how to master his demon summon to bring Yuki and Yori to help in battle, he trained Hinata when she asked if there was anyway to make her stronger, and he even completely fixed Gaara's seal. Now the boy wasn't so blood thirsty now, could sleep now and still mastered his sand. This came as a supreme setback for both Danzo and Orochimaru since they needed the unstable Gaara in causing destruction throughout Konoha.

Naruto, along with Emi and Yori, had met up with Sasuke and his team before they went to the academy. Sasuke was wearing a different outfit now to accommodate his new self. Even Yuki, who was sitting on his right shoulder, was wearing a new, dark blue collar with the Uchiha swirl on it. Sasuke wore black anbu style pants with a kunai pouch on his left leg, a long sleeved white shirt that hugged his body without being too constricting, a long, dark blue trench coat that went below his knees, standard ninja sandals, and he had his own custom sword attached to his back. The sword was specifically made by a friend of Naruto's outside of the village. It's made of a super conductive and highly versatile metal that can safely conduct electricity through it using the wielders chakra. It's highly vibration based, being able to deflect practically any weapon while also being so light for speed, a trait Sasuke had in spades. The handle was a raven colored blue with the Uchiha crest for the pommel and white guard. It was sheathed in a black scabbard and simply waiting for the Uchiha to use.

Naruto basically smiled at the three and wished them luck. Of coarse he got three different reactions from them all.

"I don't need luck loser. I got skill that can run circles around you."  
Kiba boasted to the blond, much to Naruto's annoyance.

"All I know is that Sasuke-kun will protect me, no matter what. So beat it you baka!"  
Sakura yelled at him, causing Naruto to roll his eyes at her for simply wishing her luck.

"I won't let you down Naruto-sensei."  
Sasuke nodded to the blond, much to the shock and surprise of the two genin next to him and a few stunned jounin sensei watching the whole thing next to an equally stunned Hokage watching through a crystal ball.

* * *

 **[Hokage tower]**

Those jounin were the sensei's of the current rookie's of Konoha and they were stunned beyond belief. This new information would explain the new look and attitude of the Uchiha though. It's the blond somehow influencing him in their eyes.

Hiruzen had a horrible feeling about this. Naruto was playing with fire training the Uchiha. If the council found out about this, then there would be hell to pay for Naruto.

Kakashi saw this and knew that Naruto training Sasuke was a horrible idea. He was the boy's jounin sensei. He should be the one training Sasuke. He should be the one showing Sasuke how to properly use the sharingan to honor Obito. Who was this blond to come in and take this away from him and dishonor the memory of Kakashi's old teammate?

Asuma saw this as an opportunity. He was no fool. He could see the power and change in the Uchiha ever since the blond showed up. If Sasuke was calling Naruto 'sensei', then that could mean that he trained the Uchiha. Judging from how strong Sasuke looks now, along with that sword on his back, Asuma could only assume that if he were to convince Naruto to train his own genin, he could impress Kurenai.

Speaking of the genjuutsu mistress, she was very surprised and at the same time curious as to what exactly has this blond kid been up to since his arrival not too long ago. He has shook up the council to the core, he's dating Hinata along with some other girl, he lives in the old Namikaze estate, he granted Zabuza Momochi asylum within said estate, and now he's the sensei to the once brooding emo. Just what was this kid, and what's with the animals around him? Hinata was rather uncharacteristically tight lipped about what they do at his estate, and that worried the jounin seeing as though Hinata had changed a bit over the past few weeks.

Gai was sprouting out something about youthful sensei's and whatnot, but even he was baffled by what he just saw and heard. Just what exactly could the Uchiha do now, was anybodies guess. Guess he and the rest of the jounin will just have to wait and see.

* * *

 **[Back with the group]**

After Sasuke had said those words, it got the exact reaction out of both his teammates. Anger from Sakura and arrogance from Kiba, assuming that if he needed the blond losers help training then the great Uchiha clan really is a dead clan. Sasuke paid them both no attention for that and nodded to his sensei.

"Awesome."  
Naruto said with a smile.  
"I know you won't Sasuke. Make me proud in there!"

Sasuke nodded with a smirk and went inside, followed by his still fuming and laughing teammates. It didn't take them long to get to the room to take the test only to be stopped by two chuunin's blocking the way. Thanks to Sasuke's still covered new sharingan, he was easily able to see past the genjuutsu and lead his team to the real test area. The were nearly there, when suddenly some dude with an eyesore green suit, weird ass haircut and eyebrows that make him look like a joke character, appeared next to them.

"You."  
He pointed towards Sasuke with an accusing finger.  
"Are you Sasuke Uchiha?"

Sasuke kept his composure and remembered what his sensei said about overzealous ninja wanting to prove their strength by facing strong opponents.  
"I am. And you are."

"My name is Rock Lee."  
He took a fighting stance directed towards Sasuke.  
"And I challenge you, Sasuke Uchiha, to a spar."

Of course, Sakura Interjected.  
"Hey! You con't just go up and challenge Sasuke-kun like that!"

"Yeah."  
Kiba started as he ran over towards Lee.  
"So why not face a real opponent whose stronger than that clanless loser!"

Lee immediately swept Kiba's leg, sending him face first into a wall using his own forward momentum. Kiba clutched at his nose as he started to bleed from it and Akamaru started barking at the now laughing Yuki.

 _"Stop laughing!"_  
Akamaru yelled at the white haired wolf pup on Sasuke's shoulder still.  
 _"It isn't funny!"_

 _"It's pretty hilarious to me!"_  
Yuki let out a yip that sounded adorable to some, but only Sasuke could understand it all.

"Okay then."  
Lee continued on, getting back into stance at Sasuke.  
"Now then, let us have a youthful spar."

"Listen Lee."  
Sasuke started in a calm tone as he felt two more chakra signatures approaching them, most likely Lee's teammates.  
"How about we save this spar for during and after the exams, not before. I'll gladly spar against you in the future to test out my speed against yours."

Lee went a little wide eyed at hearing this, but nodded his head and relaxed as his two teammates approached.

After some yelling from the girl on Lee's team and a strange death glare from the Hyuuga to Sasuke, they all went to the right room. When they opened the door and stepped in, the occupants of said room immediately flooded them with killer intent to scare them. It would've worked If Sasuke wasn't there. Too bad he was and wound up scaring them when he used his own KI against theirs, which easily surpassed anyone in the room.

Kabuto felt it and looked to his masters target only to see someone his reports didn't match up to. This Sasuke looked and acted different than what he was lead on to believe. Orochimaru wouldn't be happy that the blond Jinchuriki somehow influenced the Uchiha. This would require further study.

Gaara noticed the Uchiha's KI and turned to him with a smirk and a nod. Sasuke saw this and did the same thing. In those few days since Naruto met Gaara, both Sasuke and the Suna Jinchuriki had gotten along and even sparred against each other a few times. Those times usually ending in a draw since Naruto told them never to go all out on each other.

After some time, Ibiki came in and did his whole song and dance routine of scaring the young genin and explaining the written part of the test. He stated anyone caught cheating three times, they and their entire team will be disqualified. Sasuke figured out just what they had to do and watched as team after team was taken out one by one. He used his hidden sharingan eyes to easily see the answers from others and completed the test in under an hour. All the jounin present and the ones watching from the Hokage tower were absolutely confused when they saw that Sasuke hadn't used his sharingan. Something wasn't right here.

It didn't matter afterwards since Ibiki explained the last question and half the teams left. He later on said that everyone passed and in came a purple haired woman though the window with a banner saying 'The super sexy and single Anko Mitarashi' came in and stuck a sexy pose. Her way too revealing outfit didn't really do much for most of the males in the class aside from Gaara, Sasuke and Shikamaru.

She explained that she was their new proctor and told them to meet her at Training ground 44 in fifteen minutes. They arrived, she explained, tried to scare them more to thin out the herd and had them sign waivers. They all went to separate gates and were given a single scroll and were waiting for the signal to start. Once the signal was heard, all the teams rushed straight in.

Team seven stuck to the trees and Kiba was boasting about he and Akamaru's superior sense of smell leading them to victory. Sasuke had already found another team using his his hidden sharingan and used his speed to get the drop on the three Grass nin. It took him all of two seconds to get to them, which they were at least 100 or so meters away, take their scroll after knocking them out, and getting back to his team before they could even notice. He had the Earth scroll in his possession while Sakura was the one carrying the Heaven scroll.

"Okay Akamaru."  
Kiba was about to finish his rant that hadn't ended in those two seconds.  
"Lets sniff out some fresh prey."

"No need."  
Sasuke started from the rear, getting their attention as he held up an Earth scroll while smirking.  
"Now, lets get to that tower before-"

He didn't get the chance to finish his sentence as he felt a strong and way too powerful chakra signature approaching them fast. He stopped on a tree branch and looked around for a second before seeing a Sound nin coming to them. Yuki growled in anticipation as Sasuke was ready to reach for his blade to truly test himself against this new enemy.

"Sasuke-kun?"  
Sakura questioned as she stopped and went to stand next to Sasuke.  
"What's wrong?"

"Yeah Uchiha."  
Kiba started, still overconfident in his abilities.  
"What's wrong? You scared of one stupid nin-"

He didn't get to finish as they heard a sinister laugh that froze the two, three if you count Akamaru.  
"Ku ku ku ku. It looks like finding the three of you wasn't hard."  
The Grass nin looked straight at the three genin and saw his prize. The Uchiha was all that mattered to him, the others were just extra baggage to be dealt away with.  
"Let's see just how strong you are, Sasuke."

Sasuke took his stance as he prepared for an attack only to realize that this Grass nin was trying to use a genjuutsu on him. He looked to Kiba and Sakura and saw them frozen in fear and decided the best coarse of action right now.

"Yuki."  
He started to his wolf pup companion.  
"Keep them safe while I deal with him."

 _"You got it Sasuke-kun"._  
Yuki said as he leapt down and stood in front of the two stunned genin.

Sasuke wasted no time. He threw a few shuriken's and kunia's at the Grass nin who easily deflected and caught them only to realize one had an explosive tag on it. He went wide eyed as he didn't notice it somehow and tossed t before it exploded in a puff of smoke. The Grass nin was impressed by the tactical move and saw Sasuke coming through the smoke. He looked to his left where Sasuke was going to attack only for a lighting bolt to fly right at him. He went wide eyed again and dodged the attack, but when the lightning hit the branch, the Grass nin heard the familiar voice next to him.

"Raiton Kenjuutsu: Electric Mist."

Before the Grass nin could react, the smoke around him became electrified and he was being shocked from multiple different angles at once. He used a substitution with a log to escape as one of the bolts scorched his face. He stood on another tree branch as the smoke disappeared, revealing Sasuke with his sword drawn and exuding lightning. Pure, white and blue lighting. Orochimaru was shocked by this as Kabuto nor Danzo had informed him that the Uchiha knew both kenjuutsu and raiton juutsu.

 _"Damn you Danzo."_  
Orochimaru said to himself in anger.  
 _"I need to mark him fast and get out of here quickly."_

Sasuke was about to attack him again when the Grass nin simply vanished in a Shunshin. Sasuke knew better than to relax yet since he could still see exactly where the Grass nin was with his new and still hidden eyes. He quickly went through some hand seals and moved over to where the Grass nin would appear before he could.

To say Orochimaru was shocked was an understatement, both figuratively...  
"Raiton: Palm Strike!"  
..and now literally.

Sasuke stuck the Grass nin in his chest with a fistful of lightning, knocking the wind out of him. Before the Grass nin was fully knocked back though, he extended his neck and bit Sasuke on his left shoulder. Sasuke let out a grunt which was an indication that Orochimaru had succeeded in his plan, unfortunately for that wasn't the case. The literal second the Grass nin was about to bite him was also the second that Sasuke got away from him and pricked his finger. He now stood away from the nin while said nin realized he had been biting an afterimage now.

"What?!"  
He shouted in utter fury.

That was when he could feel the gathering of electricity behind him. He turned just in time to see a large wolf completely covered in white electricity and glowing blue eyes. Tho wolf ran up to him at speeds that even he had trouble tracking and roared out a large blast of lightning out its mouth. Orochimaru went wide eyed as he heard Sasuke shout out just before the wolf fired its attack.

"Kuchiyose no Juutsu: Wolf's Roar!"

The blast was too fast for the snake Sannin to dodge properly. He avoided the attack as best as he could, but the blast was too great for him and he was blasted far away from the wolf and Uchiha. Sasuke and Yuki stood fast for a few more seconds before relaxing a bit at the now faint chakra signature. Yuki returned to normal and leapt back up to Sasuke's shoulder. Speaking of his shoulder, Sasuke checked and felt that there was a few puncture wounds from that nin's bite, but what really took him by surprise was the strange seal that tried and failed to form on him. The seal, or mark if you will, was extremely faded and by the looks of it, nowhere even close to being complete. Sasuke looked to Yuki and the two agreed to have Kyuubi and Naruto take a look at this when they got back.

The two went back to Sakura and Kiba and saw that the two were knocked unconscious from the genjuutsu the Grass nin used earlier on them. Sighing and rolling his eyes, Sasuke picked them both up and proceeded to the tower with both Yuki and Akamaru on his shoulders. Akamaru had seen the whole thing and was now staring at one of his former brothers he had assumed was weak to not have a master until now. It didn't take him long to even reach the tower at his speeds and he now stood at the entrance. As instructed, he unfurled the scrolls, well more like Yuki did since his arms were occupied at the moment. To his surprise, Iruka appeared in front of them and was truly shocked at what he was seeing.

"Sasuke?"  
He gasped as he saw what was in front of him.  
"What happened? How did you get here so fast? What happened to your team?"

"Well."  
Sasuke started as he walked past the chunin into the tower.  
"First, we ran into a Grass nin who I'm pretty sure shouldn't have been here. Second of all I got here pretty fast after defeating said ninja using my speed. And lastly, that same 'Grass' nin placed these two under a genjuutsu and they passed out."  
Sasuke turned to his former sensei.  
"Anything else Iruka-sensei, or can I set these two somewhere where they can rest?"

Iruka nodded and watched as Sasuke bowed lightly to him, as did the little white wolf on his shoulder. Iruka watched in utter disbelief as one of is most difficult students had just arrived completely unscathed and in record time. Just what had this 'Naruto' kid do to the once emo brooding king to warrant this extremely drastic change? He would have to report this back to the Hokage now.

* * *

 _ **Yay. I'm finished with this chapter. It took me a while to really figure out how to end this fight. Yes, I wanted to show how different Sasuke was now, but I didn't want to make him borderline OP, that's just a little ridiculous at this point in time. Lol.**_

 _ **The next chapter will have the prelim matches with a few changes to it all.**_

 _ **Just to put a few things into context: Sasuke is very powerful and no longer power hungry, Gaara is no longer a bloodthirsty crazy nut job, and Hinata will prove her strength.**_

 _ **See ya then. Bye-bye.**_


	14. Chunin exams: Prelim fights

**[Where we left off]**

It had been a few hours now since Sasuke arrived with his two knocked out teammates. He and Yuki had been talking and planning out what to do in whatever came next for them. They also discussed that mark that was trying really hard to form on his shoulder.

 _"So what do you thinks with that mark?"_  
Yuki asked his master as they sat on a bed in one of the rooms provided for them.

Sasuke shrugged.  
"I honestly don't know Yuki. He was trying to gauge my strength for some reason."  
Sasuke then grinned at Yuki.  
"Whatever it was, I hope he got what he was looking for."

Yuki started to chuckle as his master petted him and the two were interrupted by both Kiba and Sakura waking up and looking around in panic only to calm down at their surroundings. They looked to Sasuke and saw him petting his wolf and smirking at them.

"Hey,  
Kiba started as he looked around the room rather quickly.  
"What happened to that Grass nin?"  
Akamaru leaped up to his master and nuzzled into him in comfort, which Kiba gracefully accepted. The small dog started to tell his master of what happened, which made Kiba a little bit frustrated at his still standing and victorious teammate.  
"What do you mean that the Uchiha took him on by himself and won?"

Sasuke smirked at that and continued petting Yuki in his lap. He ignored the complaints of his teammate, but was happy to find that the two were indeed okay. That was all that mattered at the moment, yet Sasuke could tell that that won't be the last time he runs into that person from the forest.

 **[With Orochimaru]**

To say that the snake Sannin was mad was a hilarious understatement. He was furious beyond belief. Not only had he been nearly defeated by his future vessel, but Sasuke also displayed many things that the snake had no information on prior to their meet. He didn't even activate his sharingan during the fight, meaning that everything that he did was him at base level according to the angered Sannin. And how the hell did he learn kenjuutsu and get the wolf from? So many questions floating around with no answer in sight for Orochimaru.

"Dammit."  
He mumbled to himself as he sat on a table, recovering from his shocked wounds that were still completely numb to him.  
"DAMMIT! I'll need Kabuto back here now to heal this body now."  
Orochimaru seethed in rage as he now thought of only one thing on his mind.  
"JUST WHAT THE HELL DID THAT BLOND HAIRED DEMON DO TO MY NEXT VESSEL?!"

 **[With Naruto]**

Naruto was currently practicing some of his wind juutsu's with the help of his two dogs, Maki, the black haired one that was female, and Haruki, the golden haired one that was male. Naruto then sneezed, stopping the two dogs in their tracks.

 _"Are you okay, Naruto-sama?"_  
Maki asked in a timid voice.

"Yeah."  
Naruto said after regaining his composure.  
"Someone must be talking about me."

 **[Back to the tower, final day]**

It came as no surprise with how many teams showed up at the tower throughout the didn't surprise Sasuke to see Gaara and his siblings making it on the second day completely unscathed. They all looked to Sasuke and his team and shared a laugh when he told them about how he and his team got here on the first day. It was fun to talk to them and see the drastic difference in Gaara's attitude and personality.

When he went to Naruto back at the Namikaze estate, Gaara wasn't really a people person per say. He didn't even really speak all too much to be honest. Both Temari and Kankuro were there as well as Sasuke and Haku. They all watched as Naruto had drawn a large seal on the floor of his training grounds and asked for Gaara to come to the center of it. At first, the redhead was very cautious of this. He barely knew the blond or knew of his intentions, and his 'mother' was screaming bloody murder for the blonds blood. At the same time though, he remembered that Naruto was the same as he was. A lonely boy who changed because of the actions of the cruel villagers around him. They were the same yet Naruto had changed for the better of himself, something Gaara secretly craved his whole life, so he entered. The sealing process took some time what with the sand reacting on it's own to stop Naruto, said blond having to learn about seals over night from Kyu-san and being a little jank at it at first, and all in all patience. It took a few hours, but soon enough, Naruto had fixed the seal and reinforced it to where Shukaku couldn't influence Gaara anymore. The process left Naruto exhausted for a day or so, but he eventually bounced back and let the Sabaku siblings train at his estate. They all got to know the blond and the raven haired Uchiha more and became friends in the process.

But back to business. Through some stroke of luck or timing, all of the Konoha genin teams arrived by the forth or last day. They were beaten up and tired, but they arrived nonetheless. There was also a Sound team that arrived at the last day, a Grass team that arrived on the last day and that was pretty much it. All in all, seven teams made it through the forest and were now gathered in the arena waiting for a new announcement.

"Welcome to the Preliminaries."  
The old Hokage said from above.  
"As I look down to all of you hopeful genin, I say congratulations on reaching this portion of the exams. Now, we will be having sets of preliminary matches to see who will advance to the final Chunin exams."

This got the much intended reactions from most of the genin. Most questioning just what the old man meant, some complaining about exhaustion, and some complaining that this wasn't fair. Hiruzen looked down to the one's complaining and took notice to a few that were eerily silent.

Gaara no Sabaku and Sasuke Uchiha.

They simply looked to the old man as if telling him to continue on with this and stop stalling. This caused the old man to ponder at just what the hell was going on in the Namikaze estate. One moment Sasuke goes in as his regular, brooding self _(AN: Everyone still thought Sasuke was that way beforehand)_ , then after he exits the estates, he comes out completely changed. Same with the Tanuki container. He came to this village, from what Hiruzen could tell from subtle glances and his tailing Anbu, as a stoic and uncaring 'monster' from Suna. But one run in with Naruto and going to the estate one day just completely changed him too.

 _"Just what are you doing to them Naruto-kun?"_  
Hiruzen thought to himself as he watched those two before continuing.

Little did he know was that every other Jounin was thinking the exact same thing.

As Hiruzen was explaining everything to the genin hopefuls, all of the Konoha Jounin were watching both Sasuke and even Gaara closely. They all were completely caught off guard when they heard Sasuke call Naruto 'sensei', and most were thinking of just how strong the last Uchiha was after Naruto trained him. Some like Kakashi, Guy and Kurenai didn't think that a simple kid with some kenjuutsu training could really teach Sasuke. Asuma and Genma saw otherwise and realized something when watching the show of respect from Sasuke to Naruto. Sasuke showed no hesitation, no smugness, and absolutely no disrespect when addressing the blond, meaning that Naruto must be hiding whole lot more than what he's letting on.

The Jounin also paid attention to Gaara as well and saw that his personality changed from the brief moment they saw him beforehand. He was cold and had this evil aura around him, but now he seems completely friendly. So you can imagine just one thought that was going through all of their minds right now.

 _"Just what the hell is that blond doing in that estate?"_

"...and now we will start with the first match."  
Hiruzen finished as he drew everyone's attention back and to the board.

It randomized for a few seconds before it landed on the first match:

 _Gaara no Sabaku Vs. Kiba Inuzuka._

"Ha!"  
Kiba bellowed out, thinking that this would be his time to show just how superior he is.  
"Alright. Let's show this sand bastard just what we can do."

Akamaru barked confidently to his master and the two stayed in the arena while everyone else went into the stands to watch. Kiba and Gaara stayed down and looked at each other as a sickly Jounin stepped onto the arena floor. He explained the rules to the two and then began the match, jumping away from the two genin in the process.

Kiba, as cocky and overconfident as ever, decided to try and end this battle quickly. He rushed over to Gaara with a now transformed Akamaru and the two started spinning violently towards the still Sand ninja. As they made their approach quicker and quicker, Gaara simply smirked as a wall of sand came out of his gourd and stood fast in front of him, stopping the dynamic duo in their tracks. Gaara still smirked as his sand quickly grabbed the two and completely encased both master and dog until there was no more struggling. Gaara released them and the two fell to the floor, both unconscious.

The sickly Jounin went to Kiba and Akamaru to check on them both and was surprised that the two were still alive.  
"The winner, Gaara no Sabaku."

"Alright Gaara!"  
Temari and Kankuro cheered out to their younger brother, shocking their sensei that both of them weren't afraid of Gaara anymore. He was also surprised that Gaara had smiled at them upon his return to the stands.

After Kiba and Akamaru were taken out of the arena and to the medical wings, the board started to flash its next match up.

 _Shikamaru Nara Vs. Kin._

The lazy Nara just muttered a 'troublesome' and went down to face his opponent. The match went as you'd expect from a Nara, they used their brain to outsmart their enemy and take as many advantages as tactically possible. Shikamaru wound up winning because of his use of his Shadow Possession Juutsu and used it to knock Kin out in a pretty comical way. The next match showed on the board afterwards.

 _Choji Akamichi Vs. Dosu._

Choji was pretty nervous at first to face this Sound nin, but after a pep talk from his team and sensei, along with the promise of a free meal later on, Choji was ready to fight. Unfortunately for him though, it didn't go so well, with him losing after running into a wall with his expanded body and knocking himself out. After Dosu was declared the winner, the board flashed up a very interesting match-up.

 _Rock Lee Vs. Sasuke Uchiha._

"YOSH!"  
Lee shouted out as he leaped down to the arena floor.

"It's time Lee!"  
The over enthusiastic enforcer of youth yelled out to his student from the stands.  
"To show everyone in here the power of youth!"

"Yes, Guy-sensei!"  
Lee yelled back, getting into stance and waiting for Sasuke to come down.

"Good luck Sasuke-kun."  
Sakura said to him in a semi-flirting semi-serious way.

Sasuke smirked at her and nodded.  
"Thanks Sakura."  
He looked over to Yuki.  
"You stay here Yuki. I want to face Lee on equal grounds."

 _"Okay, Sasuke-sama."_  
The little wolf said with enthusiasm in his voice. Though all anyone else heard was a simple yip.

Sasuke left his blade and leaned it on the wall next to Kakashi who was using this opportunity to see just what exactly was this strange weapon his student had. This was also a great opportunity to see just what Sasuke would do against Lee and see just what type of training Naruto put him through. As Kakashi was about to examine his student with his sharingan, all of the other jounin and even the Hokage were watching this with great interest.

Sasuke leaped down to the arena and landed not to far away from Lee. The two stood in front of each other as the proctor prepared them both. Sasuke smirked at Lee and mimicked his stance, much to the surprise of the bushy brow genin and the confusion of the jounin around them. After a few seconds, the proctor began the match and got out of the way. Lee dashed over to Sasuke and threw himself at the Uchiha with a vicious roundhouse. Sasuke dodged the attack and stepped away for a second before doing the exact same motion to Lee. Lee dodged the attack as well, but right when he landed, Sasuke was recovered by planting his hands on the ground and launching himself to Lee feet first. Lee blocked but was sent back by the force of the attack.

"Hmm."  
Guy started as he watched the move carefully.  
"Impressive, but he hasn't used his sharingan."

"Yet he mimicked the same move Lee did in the exact same way and added to it."  
Asuma finished, getting the attention of the remaining genin.

"Hmm."  
Kakashi was watching and could tell that Sasuke wasn't using his sharingan, but something wasn't right here.

Sasuke stood up and got back into Lee's stance. Lee kipped up and smirked as he once again rushed the Uchiha. He went for a combo of punches and kicks, but all of them were blocked or parried. Lee even went for his Leaf Hurricane technique only for Sasuke to catch his foot, twist himself, and throw Lee into the wall. Lee recovered in mid air and used the wall as a launching pad towards his opponent. Unfortunately, thanks to Sasuke's hidden sharingan, he saw this coming and acted accordingly. Since he's shown quite a bit right now to the older ninja's, Sasuke decided to end the fight right here and now. Getting out of Lee's stance, Sasuke leaped over Lee's charge, grabbed him by the shoulders as the spandex clad ninja was passing under him, threw him into the air and then vanished. In a split second, Sasuke was above Lee and the confusion of the move and speed worked to Sasuke's advantage. He brought his fist down on Lee's sternum, then a foot onto his stomach before twisting his body and bringing both his legs down in a double axe kick. One foot to Lee's face, the other to his solar plexus, knocking the wind right out of Lee as he hit the ground.

Sasuke landed on his feet and looked over to see the unconscious form of Rock Lee laying on the ground. He smirked at his work before the proctor showed up to check on the downed genin.

"Winner: Sasuke Uchiha."  
He said to everyone.

Sasuke bowed to the proctor and to Lee, surprising every older ninja once again, before using his speed to reappear next to Sakura and Kakashi.

 _"I couldn't see anything."_  
Kakashi thought to himself as he looked to Sasuke.

 _"Just what kind of training did Naruto put him through?"_  
Was the general thought of the Leaf jounin and the Hokage.

Yuki leaped up on Sasuke's shoulder with the sword in his mouth.  
 _"Awesome match Sasuke-sama."_  
The little white wolf yipped out when Sasuke took his sword back. This earned him a scratch behind the ear in response.

The board cycled through a few more times, and more matches went by. Sakura and Ino both knocked each other out much to the embarrassment of the women in the arena, Temari easily beat Ten-Ten with her fan, Neji defeated a Sound nin with ease stating something about fate, Sai had won his match against a Grass nin, Shino beat Zaku with his bugs going in the boys arms, Kankuro beat a Grass nin with his puppet, and now it was time for the last match. It pitted Hinata versus a Grass nin.

Neji smirked at the thought of Hinata winning any sort of match against anyone here, a weak Grass nin. He knew how weak she was and wished that he was the one he faced in the preliminaries instead the other Sound nin.

Kurenai was concerned for her student as Hinata had changed recently ever since she started hanging around the Namikaze estate with Naruto. The red eyed genjuutsu Mistress started seeing a pattern to Hinata's behavior. When she first went to Naruto's place, she was very much her usual timid self. After the third visit, she started showing less and less of her shy form. She stopped stuttering completely, wasn't timid anymore, and even stopped wearing her large coat as much anymore. Kurenai really wanted to go to Naruto and give him a piece of her mind, but figured that she would do so at a later date.

The matched started and the Sound nin figured this would be a free pass for him. He was relaxed and figured that the girl in front of him was nothing more than a weakling. For that, he received a palm strike straight to stomach right when the proctor called for the match to begin. The Sound nin went flying into the wall head first from the force of the blow and was knocked out. That shocked the heck out everyone except for Sasuke and the sand siblings.

"W-Winner: Hinata Hyuuga."  
The proctor stuttered, not believing what he just saw.  
"Uh, would all the winners please come down."

Everyone who had won their match: Gaara, Sasuke, Temari, Kankuro, Shino, Hinata, Dosu, Shikamaru, Neji, and Sai, stepped into the arena and stood in lines. The Hokage stepped down to them and looked at all of them with a smile.

"Now then."  
The old man spoke in a proud yet still commanding tone at the ranks this year around.  
"The finals will be held in a months time and will allow you all to train for your matches. Speaking of which, the matches will go as follows for you all."

He directed them all to the board as it flashed through the list of who would be fighting who in a months time.

 _1\. Hinata Hyuuga vs. Neji Hyuuga_

 _2\. Shino Aburame vs. Kankuro no Sabaku_

 _3\. Temari no Sabaku vs. Shikamaru Nara_

 _4\. Dosu vs. Sai_

 _5\. Sasuke Uchiha vs. Gaara no Sabaku_

The genin looked at the matches and while a few were worried, others were excited for their match.

"You have all done well in this exam so far."  
The Hokage continued on.  
"Good luck in your training, and best of luck to you in your matches."

As he left the area via Shunshin, so did a few others. Mainly the sand siblings, Sasuke, and to both Neji and Kurenai's surprise, Hinata. They all left the Forest of Death together and met up at a hotel where the three siblings were staying at.

"Well then."  
Gaara started as he looked at Sasuke with a small smirk on his face.  
"It seems we get to go all out this time around, eh Uchiha?"

"Seems like it."  
Sasuke said to his future opponent with the same smirk.

"Well, we're not gonna really get far unless we train."  
Hinata said to them all.  
"I'm heading to Naruto-kun's place to tell him the good news."

Hinata left and was followed by Sasuke, who still wanted to have that faded out seal checked on. While they were heading off to the Namikaze estate, they were being tailed by some very curious jounin's who wanted to know the truth behind their training and what exactly goes on in the estate.

Sasuke and Hinata continued on and made small talk in the process. She was currently holding onto Yuki and petting him, much to the small wolf's delight. While they were walking, they saw the head of blond hair walking along with Haku walking right next to him.

"Naruto kun/sensei!"  
Both the Hyuuga and Uchiha yelled out, getting his attention.

They both went over to the two and Hinata was the one to embrace him in a tight hug. Naruto returned it in kind and realized that neither of them looked injured at all. That was a good sign to the blond as he had already assumed that they had made it to the finals along with Gaara, Temari and Kankuro.

"So."  
Haku interrupted the two in her calm tone.  
"How were the Chunin exams?"

"Actually Naruto-sensei."  
Sasuke started towards his sensei.  
"That was actually the reason I wanted to talk to you."  
He lowered his collar a bit to show both Naruto and his two girlfriends the faded out seal mark on his neck.

"Whoa."  
Hinata said in awe as she activated her Byakugan to get a better look.

"I've never seen anything like this before."  
Haku spoke up with a bit of wonder and slight hesitation.

"I have before."  
Naruto said, catching everyone's attention.  
"A few years ago, I ran into someone with a similar mark on them that was actually killing them. It took all I had at the time to beat the guy, but eventually I did."  
Naruto looked at Sasuke and got a serious look on his face.  
"Looks like you ran into Orochimaru, the Snake Sannin. I'm assuming he was trying to control you somehow."

Right when Naruto said those words, the jounin that were following Sasuke and Hinata appeared via Shunshin. Kakashi Hatake, Asuma Sarutobi, Kurenai Yuuhi, Anko Mitarashi and Might Guy appeared before the four and were more than a little disturbed by what they just heard.

"Alright."  
Kakashi started as he approached Naruto, the son of his late sensei.  
"I think it's high time you started to tell us everything that you know, Naruto."

* * *

 _ **Finally uploaded this chapter. Got way to many gripes and complaints about the last chapter. Most of those reviews were just saying stuff like:**_

 **'Why is Sasuke so powerful without any explanation?'**

 **'Sasuke doesn't deserve the powers he was handed?'**

 **'Why would the Kyuubi, who hates Uchiha's, just give Sasuke that demon contract?'**

 ** _And just a bunch of ether complaints like those. Those were basically what I found was being told the most despite the overly long reviews on some of them. I never said at any point that Sasuke was more powerful than Naruto since I haven't shown Naruto using his full power. Why wouldn't Sasuke deserve what he was given, he basically proved to Kyuubi and Naruto that he isn't like past Uchiha that are only after power. The two were heavily impressed by how Sasuke is as an Uchiha and want to help him. That's pretty much it._**

 ** _Bye-bye._**


	15. A Foxes explanation

**[Namikaze Estate]**

Everyone had assembled at the living room inside of Naruto's home. To the jounin, the entire estate was absolutely magnificent. To Kakashi, he was in his late sensei's home and it struck him hard how he didn't see the resemblance between his sensei and his son at first back in Wave. For Kurenai and Anko, they were in the home of their late friend Kushina, and it was a very strange thing to be invited into the estate by her son. The son they had no idea even existed until ten minutes ago. The Hokage had also been informed of what was said back on the street via his crystal ball, so of course he came inside the estate as well. For him, to be inside the very home of the Yondaime was a privilege he felt he didn't deserve.

While everyone was seated in the living room, Naruto and Haku were preparing tea for everybody. This gave the much older people in the room time to discuss some things.

"So what do you think of all of this Hokage-sama?"  
Kurenai asked the old man as the sat on couches around the room.

Hiruzen stroked his beard as he leaned on the arm of the couch he was seated at.  
"I honestly don't know Kurenai."  
He started, then sighed.  
"The boy that I know that left all those years seems to have been lost to me forever. This new Naruto is vastly different from before, and I don't know what to think of him."

Guy decided to take this opportunity since both Sasuke and Hinata were also in the room waiting patiently alongside the others.  
"If you don't mind me asking Sasuke-kun, how exactly did you copy Lee's movements without using your sharingan?"

"And how did you get so strong and fast Hinata-chan?"  
Kurenai asked her student after Guy asked the Uchiha.

Hinata was busy petting Yori at the time she was asked that question and hesitated for a moment. Sasuke was sitting next to her at the time and wasn't surprised that they were asked these questions. All eyes were on them as the adults in the room awaited their answer. Both of them glanced at one another for a brief moment and right before Sasuke was going to answer, Naruto and Haku came back into the room with a tray in the blonds hands. He set it down on the table in the center of the couches and sighed.

"It's okay guys."  
He started as he looked to his student and one of his girlfriends.  
"We got this."  
He turned towards the adults in the room and gave a smile before moving away from them a bit. They all wondered what Naruto meant by 'we' until he bit his thumb and went through the familiar hand signs.

"Kuchiyose no Juutsu: Kyuubi no Youkai."

When he said those words, aside from Hiruzen, all of the adults in the room stood up in shock. There was a well sized puff of smoke that came from Naruto's summons and the next thing they saw really sent them into shock. The nine tails swirled a bit and curled before brushing the smoke away to reveal the Kyuubi itself, only it was the size a large dog and was yawning like it just woke up from a nap.

 **"Naruto."**  
The Kyuubi started after its yawn and it stretched its back a little before continuing.  
 **"You know, I was sleeping earlier, so whatever this is had better be worth it."**

All of the jounin tensed at this situation right now, yet they saw that Sasuke, Hinata and Haku were completely calm right now. This confused them as they would have assumed that these three would have been a little more reactive than this.

"Heh. Sorry Kyu-san."  
Naruto said sheepishly as he scratched the back of his head.  
"But in all seriousness, it seems that Sasuke had a run-in with our favorite snake-teme during the exams."

This caught Kyuubi's attention as he looked over to Sasuke with a raised eyebrow.  
 **"You look alright Sasuke. Was Orochimaru not much of a challenge to you or something?"**

"Not really, but I could tell he was holding back."  
Sasuke started, surprising the seemingly forgotten jounin and Hokage in the room.  
"Though he did get a little bite to me that I'd appreciate if you looked at."

Kyuubi nodded and leapt on the couch next to Sasuke. The Uchiha lowered his collar and everyone could see the faded out curse mark that was there. Anko immediately grew angry at seeing someone else with this damn curse mark on them and silently wished death on her former teacher so hard right now. Everyone of the adults had similar thoughts going through their minds. Orochimaru must want Sasuke for something, but what exactly? This was not good for them. The curse mark would be the boys end. Orochimaru would tempt him with power and there would be nothing they could do to-

 **"That fool makes it too easy sometimes."**  
Kyuubi said with a chuckle, interrupting their thoughts for a moment.  
 **"Alright, seems simple enough. His curse mark really isn't as difficult to release for a demon than it would be for a human."**

Kyuubi pressed his right paw onto Sasuke's shoulder. It glowed a dark crimson color and a bit of smoke came from it. Sasuke winced a little bit at this, much to the concern of the adults in the room, but after a few seconds, Kyuubi took his paw off and the faded out mark was completely gone. Everyone, minus Naruto, Haku and Hinata, were amazed at just what the Kyuubi had done and Anko was prepared to get on her hands and knees and beg him to remove her curse seal as well.

 **"There we go."**  
Kyuubi started again as he stretched his back once more and yawned.  
 **"So aside from that, what did you summon me for Naruto?"**

"Well, it seems our guest want to know certain things about our run-in with some of Orochimaru's forces, and just what goes on in our home."  
Naruto stated to the fox.

 **"Okay."**  
Kyuubi said as he shrugged his shoulders.  
 **"Don't see why not. So, what do you all wish to know?"**

It was Hiruzen who started.  
"First off, what exactly has been going on in this estate ever since you've came back, Naruto?"

Naruto knew that that would be the first question asked of him, since he kept the privacy seal all along the estate. With a sigh, Naruto answered him.  
"Easy really. I just helped train Sasuke, Hinata-hime and even Haku-hime when we're not just relaxing."

 **"We also did give Sasuke that contract too."**  
Kyuubi spoke up as he hopped up on the couch next to Hinata, who petted his head soothingly. This caused him let out a content and relaxed purr that caught all of the adults completely off guard.

"Wait?"  
Asuma started, his brain registered everything after he witnessed the infamous Kyuubi no Kitsune purring from Hinata's petting first.  
"Contract? What contract?"

Sasuke looked to his sensei as if to ask if it was alright to show them, and wasn't surprised when Naruto nodded to him. Sasuke closed his eyes and took a deep breath before opening them again. He put his hands in a seal and said for everyone to hear.  
"Kai."

The jounin and Hokage watched in shock as Sasuke's eyes changed. No longer were they the deep onyx color they usually always are, but now they were completely changed. They saw this new sharingan and all went wide eyed completely.

"This is what the contract we let Sasuke sign gave him."  
Naruto started.  
"This is his own sharingan that makes the other ones pretty much obsolete."

Sasuke placed the genjuutsu back on just as he was about to be questioned of its capabilities.

"Just what exactly does that allow you to do?"  
Hiruzen asked first, his curiosity getting the better of him.

"Yes."  
Kakashi added.  
"Just what is that?"

The other Jounin in the room were just slack jawed at this as Naruto let out a chuckle at their looks. Haku and Hinata also did the same thing while Sasuke simply smirked and Kyuubi just continued to lay his head across Hinata's lap to be petted.

"Well, if you all really want to know what it does, then I guess no harm could come to saying what it does better than the regular sharingan."  
Naruto started as he and Sasuke started to explain what the new Sharingan can do, while leaving out quite a bit of important details.

After they were finished, the adults were in disbelief at what they had just heard. The new Sharingan really did put the regular one Kakashi got from Obito to absolute shame. Even the Hokage, and the man called the Professor, was at a loss for words. Naruto simply smiled at their reactions, same with the girls. Sasuke just continued to smirk.

"W-Well then."  
Hiruzen started after clearing his throat. He looked to the blond.  
"It seems that answers our questions about Sasuke, now how exactly have you and the Kyuubi ran into Orochimaru, Naruto?"

Kyuubi's ear twitched a bit at hearing this and he opened his eyes.  
 **"We technically haven't."**

"What?"  
The adults asked at the same time in confusion.

"We've only ran into some of his Sound ninja and a few of his cursed mark ninja."  
Naruto finished up before continuing. This got everyone's attention.  
"Me and Kyu-san have had a few run-ins with Orochimaru's ninja's before by accident really. It was his cursed mark ninja's that he sent to get me."

"Why?"  
Guy asked him.

"He wanted to know just who it was that's been killing his forces and wanted that person's power for himself."  
Naruto answered.

"So he only sent the cursed marked ones because he wanted the power of the one killing his men?"  
Anko asked in a tone of rising anger.

"Yep."  
Kyuubi answered her nonchalantly,causing her to face fault.

"Anyway."  
Naruto continued.  
"He sent about three or four of them to get me when I was traveling around at the time. Before the last guy, I had killed the rest."

"Why not the last one?"  
Asuma asked him.

"Because he was already dying from the curse mark."  
Naruto answered.  
"So I had Kyu-san take the curse mark off of him and we put him somewhere that he can be helpful to us for later on down the line."

"That place being?"  
Hiruzen asked them.

"Sorry, but I can't say until we fix him back up properly."  
Naruto answered with a smile on his face.  
"If Orochimaru's here and attacked Sasuke, the that can only mean that he's about to strike soon."

"Yes it does."  
Kakashi spoke up before turning to the Hokage.  
"What should we do Hokage-sama?"

"We'll have to let the exams go as planned."  
He answered.  
"Orochimaru will most likely strike when we are all there, so that must mean the Chunin exam tournament. We'll be ready for him then."

With that, the adults all left the estate after asking a few more meaningless questions. Hiruzen had tried to leave a hidden seal so he could observe the estate without Naruto's knowledge, but after he left, Kyuubi took care of that. Right now, Naruto was thinking of just what Orochimaru would do for the exams next month. He wanted Sasuke for something, and now that Naruto thinks about it, Gaara seemed to be a wild card in all of this for Suna. Why send a Jinchuuriki with clear mental issues, despite those issues being fixed now, to a Chunin exam in another village anyway? It wasn't adding up, but somehow, Naruto knew that he would need to be there at the exams to do what he would need to do.

* * *

 _ **Yeah, pretty abrupt ending. Sue me. Lol. The next chapter will timeskip to the exams.**_

 _ **See ya then.**_

 _ **Bye-bye.**_


	16. Tournament time

**[Namikaze estate, two days before the tournament]**

Right now, both Hinata and Sasuke are sparring each other with Naruto and Haku watching from the sidelines. It had been a very interesting month for the four inside of the Namikaze estate. After telling the Hokage and the others of what he knew on Orochimaru, Naruto deduced that the snake would try and do something at the finals. His suspicions were proven to be even more concerning when Gaara of all people, grateful to Naruto for helping him, spoke of Suna allying themselves with Orochimaru for the invasion. Naruto was more than a little worried, but knew that If Gaara had come to him with his mind finally free and clear of Shukaku's influence, then that could only mean he wouldn't be participating in said invasion. Gaara also mentioned that his brother and sister weren't going to be apart of the invasion thanks to Gaara convincing them that this is wrong. Safe to say that the two, who used to be terrified of their younger brother, were happy to see that he cared for them both and wanted them not to go through with this. After bringing it up to Hiruzen of Orochimaru's plan with Suna, the old man started to prepare for it to ensure minimal casualties. Zabuza was stationed with Anko and Ibuki on standby along with several Anbu units when Orochimaru struck. The jounin sensei's were going to be stationed at various locations inside the stadium in strategic positions without looking too suspicious. Chunin were going to be stationed in choke points and exits to ensure that no Suna nin or ninja associated with Orochimaru would escape. And Naruto along with Haku would be at the stadium as well along with Emi and the pups. Maki and Haruki were actually excited at the idea of finally fighting enemies alongside their new master.

Right now, Naruto watched his student and his girlfriend fight at a hectically fast pace. Sasuke's speed was top notch, but Hinata's grace and flexibility made it difficult for the Uchiha to land a hit on her. They both had their respective bloodlines activated, though Sasuke's can't really be turned off, and were now at a standstill. Before they could charge at each other again, Naruto stopped them.

"Okay guys, that's enough."  
With that, they both stopped inches away from one another.  
"You guys really have gotten stronger. I have no doubt that you guys will do great when everything goes down."

Both of them stepped away from each other and nodded. Well, Hinata nodded while Sasuke bowed to his sensei. It was strange for the Uchiha. Out of all the time he had been trained by Naruto, he never really saw the blond go full force against him. It was always kind of odd to him but he figured he would see something spectacular during the invasion.

Hinata went over and hugged her boyfriend, happy to be praised by him and not wanting to disappoint him either. She knew that once everything was settled and done with, that he would have a special surprise for her. She just had no idea what it would be.

"Okay then,"  
Naruto started once more.  
"You guys get some rest for the day tomorrow. Don't do anything to strenuous, okay?"

"Hai, sensei."  
Sasuke bowed once more as he went to leave for his home. As he did, Yuki hopped onto his shoulder with his sword in its mouth. Sasuke graciously took it and scratched the wold behind the ears, enticing a content purr.

"Right Naruto-kun."  
Hinata spoke as she hugged him again and kissed him on the lips before having to head back to her home. She left a little after Sasuke did and waved to both Naruto and Haku as she left.

Oh yes. The finals were definitely going to be something this year for Konoha.

* * *

 **[Finals time]**

Right now, the contestants for the finals were arriving in the Konoha stadium. They were a mixture of nervous and anxious at the same time, with some wondering how well they could do here. Oddly enough though, Dosu hadn't shown up. It was odd at first since that one seemed capable of going far, but a bad run-in with Gaara proved to be his end. Say what you want about the Ichibi Jinchuuriki now since the seal was fixed, but if you threaten his brother and sister in front of him, then that would be your end, no doubt.

The stadium was packed to the brim with civilians and ninja alike. Naruto was seated next to Haku in their regular clothes, though they did have their ninja gear on them under said clothes. Yori was seated on his hind legs on Naruto's lap while both Maki and Haruki were on Haku's as she petted the two. Emi was with Zabuza at the moment waiting for when it was their time to strike.

Over in the Kage's box, Hiruzen was sitting in his chair as he waited for the finals to start. If the Sand siblings intel was right, then Orochimaru should be making his move when it's time for Sasuke and Gaara to face each other. He knew that Orochimaru wouldn't be able to resist the temptation to kill him and that would be the snake's downfall.

"Ah, Hokage-sama."  
The smooth voice of a familiar man spoke up.

Hiruzen turned to his right to see the Kazekage walking up to the Kage's box. The old man smiled to his fellow Kage.  
"Ah. Kazekage-sama, it's nice of you to join us on this day."

"Well, it is a glorious day for Suna to be able to show Konoha just how far we've progressed."  
The Kazekage spoke as he sat down in his chair.

Something didn't feel right with that response though. At least to Hiruzen it didn't feel right.

Back down in the arena, a fairly tall man in a jounin vest and having a metal senbon hanging out his mouth stepped up to address the people.  
"Ladies and gentlemen, representatives and shinobi alike!"  
The crowd noise died down as he continued.  
"Today is a glorious day for these fair genin standing behind me.

He went on about rules and how the finals would determine who would become chuunin or not. After he was done with a pretty lengthy speech, he spoke of the first match of the day, Hinata Hyuuga verses Neji Hyuuga. All the participants except for those two left the arena and went to the fighters box, but before they all went back up, Sasuke whispered to Hinata.

"Good luck."

Hinata nodded to him before he left to watch the match as everyone else would.

 ** _[Hinata vs. Neji]_**

Neji stood in front of Hinata and took in her appearance. Gone was the coat she wore along with pants and in was the new look. She wore a form fitting, dark blue top that hugged her body without being too constricting. The sleeves were long and the material was light for quick and fluid movements. She also wore black pants made from the same material as the top. She had her headband tied around her forehead and had a hard glare towards her cousin. Her posture reflected confidence, strength, and most of all power. Neji was taken aback from the look of his supposed 'weak' cousin and was contemplating whether he should forfeit, but that thought went away as he remembered it was his fate to win just as it was hers to lose.

Genma, the proctor, raised his hand into the air as he looked to both competitors. He could see Neji getting into his standard stance and saw Hinata do the same. Not wanting to prolong the wait, Genma threw his hand down.  
"HAJIME!"

As the proctor leapt away, Neji made his move first. He rushed Hinata, expecting her quick win in the prelims to be a complete fluke. He went for a strike to her chest, Byakugan activated, and was mere inches away as she hadn't even made an attempt to intercept him. He smirked internally as he would finally be rid of her only for that smirk to fade as he hit nothing but air. He tumbled forward but caught himself as he quickly turned around to see Hinata bent backwards. She had somehow dodged his attack without him even realizing it.

Up in the stands, Hiashi and Hanabi had their jaws on the floor. They had never seen Hinata move that fast or that gracefully before. Hiashi was impressed. Maybe his eldest daughter wasn't so much of a failure after all, but then again she was unfortunately with _that_ boy.

Neji went wide eyed as Hinata stood up straight and turned to her cousin with the same look in her eyes. He only just now realized that she didn't even have her Byakugan activated.

"Tch."  
Neji started through gritted teeth before calming down.  
"So, it seems the weak Hyuuga princess has a few tricks I see."  
He taunted, expecting her to tremble to his words.  
"It doesn't matter though. You are fated to-"

"Neji."  
Hinata started in a cold tone, catching everyone else off guard. Everyone except for Naruto, Haku and Sasuke of course.  
"You speak of fate as if it is set in stone."  
Her stance relaxed as she walked over towards him slowly, head down.  
"Yet you fail to realize that fate is just what we tell ourselves when our lives have hit rock bottom. I understand why you hate me Neji."  
She stopped as she was only a few feet away from him.  
"But."  
She raised her head and had her Byakugan activated, her hard glare amplified by this, causing Neji to realize this was a completely different Hinata.  
"I'm done with the idea that I'm not in control of my own life. I broke the chains of fate when I found someone who believed that I could change, and if it takes a beating to change you Neji, then so be it."

Hinata rushed towards Neji at shocking speeds. Sparring against Sasuke for most of the month before the finals had really helped improve her speed and reflexes as Neji looked so slow to her. She didn't use the Juuken like how Neji or any other Hyuuga would always do. Instead, she used hard strikes all along Neji's body.

Neji was having a difficult time standing up to her. She was simply too fast to block and too flexible to land any offense on. Seeing no other choice, Neji tried going for his trump card, the Rotation, but whenever he would try and get even the smallest distance from her, Hinata would be on him once more. He tried using kunai and shuriken to give him some room, but those proved ineffective against her agility.

"Dammit."  
Neji said to himself as he blocked another fist aimed towards his ribs.  
"How did she get so strong so fast?"

He wasn't lucky anymore as Hinata twisted herself to catch Neji with a hook kick to his jaw. He was stunned for a few seconds, all the time Hinata needed to end this.

"Suiton:"  
She started as she went through a few hand signs.  
"Juuken barrage!"

Her hands suddenly glowed a blue color as water appeared onto them. She began to attack her cousin with precision as she used her families Juuken strikes with the added water element to them. As she struck, the water seeped into Neji's Tenketsu points, adding an extra layer of pain to the attack while also adding more power to the attack as well.

Hiashi, Hanabi and even the other Hyuuga looked on as Hinata had utterly demolished the Hyuuga prodigy with ease. Whatever that demon - no, that boy did to her must have really helped. Kurenai stared in bewilderment as her once kind and caring student that wouldn't want to cause harm to anyone had just brutally attacked her own cousin. She was both proud and appalled by Hinata's actions. Proud because the girl had proven the words of her father and the elders wrong of her own fate, but appalled by the brutality of how she turned out. This was all that blond kids fault. She would make him pay for doing this to her student.

Neji felt the attacks as he fell to the ground, his chakra completely cut off from him while also in so much pain. He fell to the ground, unable to move as Hinata made her way towards him. He looked up to her with barely opened eyes as she knelt down to him with a concerned look in her eyes.

"Fate doesn't control me anymore Neji-nii-san."  
She placed her hand on his shoulder and smiled a caring smile to him.  
"And it shouldn't be the thing that controls you either."

She stood up and looked to the proctor.  
"The winner is: Hinata Hyuuga!"

The crowd cheered at that fierce and fast action as many of the representatives from other villages were astounded by Konoha's ninja. If this was only the first match, then they really couldn't wait to see what the rest of the tournament would produce.

* * *

 **[Kage box]**

Right now, Orochimaru was surprised and upset at the same time. He had no idea that this is how the match would go. Maybe he should keep his options for a new body open. Besides, having the Byakugan and a strong body wouldn't be so bad. But, his eyes were for Sasuke only right now. The Uchiha surprised him in their quick fight in the forest of death, but fortunately the Sannin had gotten him with the curse mark. Now it was only a matter of time before the Uchiha would seek his power out, and that body along with the sharingan would be all his.

"Very impressive, I must admit."  
The disguised snake spoke up.  
"I didn't expect the Hyuuga to teach one of their own to fight like that."

"Actually it wasn't her family who taught her."  
Hiruzen answered the man, wondering why he was so curious all of sudden.

"Really? Then who, her sensei?"  
The Kazekage asked once more.

"Heh."  
Hiruzen stifled a chuckle.  
"Actually it was someone who has returned to the village fairly recently."

Orochimaru went wide eyed in anger but kept his composure as to not tip off his old sensei. So, that's why. That blond demon brat must've done something to her just like he did to Sasuke. It was the only logical option since he had learned of Naruto's recent return from Danzo. He didn't know what this would entail for his plans, but for now he would deal with the invasion and hopefully the blond would die from it in the process.

* * *

 **[Fighter's box]**

Hinata had just came back from the arena as the medics had carried Neji off. The words from Hinata had really struck a cord with him and he thought about what it really meant to live by your own means instead of following fate.

"Nice match Hinata-san."  
Sasuke said to her with a smile.

"Thank you, Sasuke-san."  
She thanked him as she joined him to watch the other fights take place.

 _Shino Aburame vs. Kankuro no Sabaku_

Kankuro forfeited as he was supposed to do for the invasion, giving Shino the win much to the bug users disappointment.

 _Temari no Sabaku vs. Shikamaru Nara_

Temari knew that this would be an interesting battle. She had to avoid his shadow possession attack while also making sure to keep to the plan. She had to buy time just like she would for the invasion, only this time it would be for Konoha's ninjas instead of her own and the Sound.

Shikamaru gave a valiant effort despite his laziness or the ranged advantage she had, but he was running low on chakra throughout the fight. He would need to figure out something fast or this would be over with his defeat, and despite his apparent lazy attitude, he really wanted to wipe that smug grin from her face. It took some careful planning on his part, but he was finally able to trap her in his Shadow Possession Juutsu.

Needless to say he was very happy to wipe that look off her face. He gave up afterwards though, not really surprising many.

 _Dosu vs. Sai_

Oddly enough, Dosu still hadn't shown up. Then Sai all of sudden disappeared on everyone. No one could find the two, so the match was ruled a double disqualification.

Not too many people were happy about that, but they were excited for the next match as it pit their 'precious' Uchiha verses the red haired sand ninja. Both Sasuke and Gaara looked to one another in the fighters box and nodded to one another before disappearing in a burst of speed and a swirl of sand respectively. They appeared in the arena and were standing in front of one another. This time, Yuki and his blade were with him as Sasuke really wanted to test his abilities against someone who could match him instead of surpassing him.

Genma looked to both genin and saw them both smirking to one another. Yuki had leapt down from Sasuke's shoulder and was preparing himself.  
"Ladies and gentlemen, this is the final match of the first round! Sasuke Uchiha verses Gaara no Sabaku!"  
The crowd went into an uproar at the name of the Uchiha. Orochimaru was interested in seeing just how the month progressed his next vessels growth. Genma raised his arm and saw the two ready for a fight of their lives.  
"HAJIME!"

* * *

 _ **Next chapter will have that fight between the two for a little bit before Orochimaru makes his play. When that happens, ya'll get to see Naruto when he's deadly serious. Also, I really hope that shuts up some of the ones who started hating this story when I focused on Sasuke for a few chapters. It really killed my motivation to continue this story.**_

 _ **I'm still at an impasse though about something in this chapter: Should I have Hiruzen die by Orochimaru because of the surprise of Orochimaru's disguise, or have him live but be critically injured?**_

 _ **I don't know. Either one would change up the story, but I want you guys and gals opinions.**_

 _ **See ya then, also HAPPY NEW YEAR!**_

 _ **Bye-bye.**_


	17. Invasion time

**_[Sasuke Uchiha vs. Gaara no Sabaku]_**

When Genma jumped out of the way, all hell broke loose for the two genin. Gaara launched his sand towards Sasuke at a moderate speed to which the Uchiha dodged. Sasuke ran around in order to dodge the sand at speeds similar to Lee's. This caught people's attention as Sasuke was purposefully moving just under Lee's true speed. To some, they thought this was his fastest, boy how wrong were they.

Gaara moved his arms as he noticed Sasuke getting closer with each dodge. This made his sand move just a bit faster, but not fast enough as Sasuke got within his personal space. The Uchiha smirked as he went for a straight right hook only for Gaara to dodge it himself and direct his sand to said Uchiha. Sasuke jumped out of the way just in time as the sand flew past him. As he was in the air somersaulting, he took out a few shuriken and kunai and threw them at Gaara's direction. Gaara brought up more sand to block only to realize too late that the kunai had explosive tags on them. On impact with his sand, they exploded sending him skidding back a few meters.

Sasuke landed on his feet and got back into stance, smirking to his opponent. Gaara stood straight and did the same. The two were enjoying this fight and it didn't go unnoticed.

 _"Somethings not right."_  
Orochimaru thought as he watched from the Kage's box.  
 _"Why is that unhinged brat and my next vessel toying around with each other?"_

Hiruzen had a similar thought, but it went by as the next parts of the fight started.

Gaara went through handseals and brought his arm forward towards Sasuke  
"Sand Burial!"  
He shouted out as sand rushed towards Sasuke.

Sasuke dodged as best as he could without using his intense speed to do so. He was doing well until his left leg was caught at the ankle. He grunted as he was pulled from the air and forced down to the ground. People in the crowd gasped in horror as they thought their precious Uchiha was injured from this. They became even more worried and were shouting for the match to be stopped. The sand crawled all over Sasuke and en-captured him within. Everyone was in a frenzy at this point, even the disguised snake Sannin.

 _"Dammit Gaara!"_  
He shouted to himself as he was watching his next vessel about to be killed.  
 _"I need to launch the attack now!"_  
Just when he was about to give a quick signal, everyone saw something spectacular.

The ball of sand that had Sasuke in its clutches started to smoke up from the inside. Gaara noticed this and quickly started to call his sand back in a panic, but it was far too late for that. The ball of sand burst into flames and partially turned into glass. Sasuke broke out of it and looked towards Gaara while quickly going through hand signs.

"Lightning style: Great Wolf Strike!"  
Yuki, who had been waiting patiently with his partners blade in his mouth, was summoned in front of Sasuke in his lightning form.

Sasuke took the blade from Yuki's mouth and as fast as lightning itself, the wolf and the Uchiha rushed towards Gaara. Try as he might, his sand wasn't responding fast enough as most of it was turned into glass from the fire and the other parts weren't fast enough to really get here in time.

Sasuke's blade generated lightning as well and the electricity was coming right off of him, making him look like some kind of creature resonating pure energy. It was breathtaking for everyone to see and even had both the Hokage and Orochimaru with their jaws on the floor. The only ones who weren't like that were of course Naruto, Haku, Hinata and Zabuza over in the shadows of an entranceway.

Gaara saw he had no chance of making a comeback from this and simply stood there, smiling. This caused Orochimaru to raise a brow at this along with some of the other hidden Sound ninja. What came was an even bigger shock is when Sasuke stopped his lightning covered blade mere centimeters away from Gaara's face while Yuki was only seconds away from going through his chest. Both Sasuke and Yuki changed back to normal and lowered their guard in front of the sand genin. They smiled to one another before Gaara nodded and turned to the stunned proctor.

"I forfeit."  
Gaara said calmly.

The proctor stood there for a moment before regaining his composure and announcing to everyone.  
"The winner: Sasuke Uchiha!"

The crowd broke out of their stupor and cheered for their Uchiha. Most were believing that he had gotten this strong thanks to the teachings of powerful jounin's and maybe even the Hokage himself. They never once wanted to think of the returning blond 'demon' helping Sasuke in anyway despite the fact that that was the person who trained him.

Sasuke took a few steps back from his former opponent turned friend and the two bowed in respect. This caught a lot of people by surprise as Orochimaru decided enough was enough.

He silently gave the signal to launch the assault. Suddenly, feathers started floating around the arena and started putting people to sleep. The ninja of the Leaf had prepared for this and easily broke the genjuutsu. Hiruzen noticed what was going on, but before he could really give an order, the 'Kazekage' went for a jab to the old man. Thanks to Naruto's warning earlier, Hiruzen was already on high alert and easily dodged the attempted attack. The two stood in front of each other as Orochimaru removed the robes and skin of the Kazekage, gaining a shocked look of horror to the Sand Siblings.

"Orochimaru."  
Hiruzen started as he removed his robes to reveal his battle armor.  
"I should've known you would stoop so low to get your revenge."

Orochimaru smirked as he saw the old man was definitely angry to see him once again.  
"Oh how nice to see you again, sensei."  
He taunted.

"You lost the right to call me that a long time ago."  
Hiruzen answered with steel in his voice.

As those two were facing off against each other, the Sound and most of the Sand nin began their attack. They expected to catch the Konoha ninja off guard with this sneak attack, imagine their surprise when they were now in a heated battle with many jounin and chuunin. Zabuza joined in along with Anko and Ibuki as they joined in the fights within the stands. Several chuunin were releasing civilians from the genjuutsu and leading them out of the arena area. If things couldn't get worse for the invasion force, Sasuke, Kankuro, Temari, Hinata, Gaara once his sand reverted back, Haku, and now Naruto had joined in the fight. Now that he was facing enemies with the intent to kill, Naruto did just that. Without a moments hesitation, Naruto drew his blade and began cutting down any Sound ninja that even attempted to get in his way.

Hiruzen and Orochimaru looked to see what was going on with different reactions, Hiruzen was proud of what he was seeing as his ninja were defeating the invasion forces. The information that was given to them by the Sand siblings was very helpful, and he even saw that some of the Sand ninja had joined the siblings as well. Orochimaru was fuming. He knew he should have forced some sort of loyalty seal on most of the Sand nin or at the very least anything else. He didn't get much time to really think as Hiruzen rushed him.

Orochimaru leapt back as he knew that as long as he could kill the old man, he could at the very least be satisfied with that. The two rushed each other and began to clash, unaware that on the back of the Hokage, Naruto left a special present for him.

 ** _[Back on the ground]_**

The Sound and most of the Sand nin were being dealt with by the Konoha nin. Some, seeing that this invasion was a total failure, tried to flee from the arena and from Konoha in general. Imagine their surprise when they found that there were so many choke points to all the exits that it made escape impossible.

After about ten minutes give or take once Orochimaru gave the order, the Sand, finally seeing that their Kage was nowhere to be found and the Sand siblings standing next to Konoha nin, surrendered. The Sound nin weren't that smart as they continued to try and fight for their master. It didn't go so well as most of the Sound forces were killed. A large portion by a certain blond.

Speaking of which, Naruto and Haku, along with the canines, joined the group on the ground floor. Naruto stood in front of Sasuke and Hinata as she went up to hug him and Sasuke merely smirked.  
"Nice work guys."  
He started as he hugged one of his girlfriends and smiled.

"Looks like the battles over for the most part."  
Zabuza spoke up as he placed his blade on his shoulder.

The group looked on and saw that the Sand nin's were being rounded up, no fight left in them. They didn't suffer many casualties. The Sound nin's that were still alive were also rounded up, albeit with some annoying difficulty. The dead were also gathered and placed in a pile. There were fortunately no casualties on the Konoha side, though there were many injuries. None too serious though.

"Well then."  
Naruto started, getting the attention of his girls, his student, and the Sand siblings.  
"I guess that's that then?"  
He shrugged as if not knowing if that were true or not.

They all either smiled or laughed at his bluntness for a time before hearing loud explosions and feeling the ground shake. Everyone looked up to the Kage booth and saw that there was a large barrier atop the roof. Without wasting any time, everyone made their way up to see that the Hokage was in deep trouble now.

He was on one knee, bleeding heavily from the side most likely from a deep wound, and facing not only Orochimaru, but two other figures as well. Most of the Konoha ninja were in deep shock at seeing the resurrected forms of the first and second Hokage's standing next to the traitorous snake. They wanted to go in and help save their Kage, but the barrier would just kill anyone who got too close. The four that kept the barrier up were also protected in the four corners of the barrier, making entry to stop them impossible as well.

Orochimaru looked around and saw that a good portion of the shinobi were watching now. After he kills the old man, he could easily escape with the help of the resurrected Kage's. He smirked and chuckled under his breath before going into full blown laughter. Most of the ninja scowled or cringed at the sound of the snake and tried to think of any way to get in. Nothing was what they came up with unfortunately.

"It seems that its going to be over soon old man."  
Orochimaru spoke up after he finished laughing.  
"It'll soon be over, so why don't you just die already and be done with this petty defiance of yours."

Hiruzen gritted his teeth. The Mokuton and Suiton attacks, not to mention the snakes own, had been too much for him. Even with his summons out, there wasn't much that he could do. His shinobi would unfortunately have to watch as he plays his last trump card. This would kill him, he knew that, but at least he could take Orochimaru with him.

He began to perform hand seals that caught some of the wiser shinobi's attention. One of them being Naruto.

With a sigh, Naruto stepped forward along with Yori and Emi. Sasuke and the others of the group noticed this and wondered what was going on.

"Sensei?"  
Sasuke started.

"Watch closely everyone."  
Naruto started in a hard tone while smirking. Everyone close, from the group, the rookies that were there and their sensei's, to other chuunin and jounin heard him and wondered what he meant.  
"This is how I fight when I'm serious."

Before anyone could say anything, Naruto, Emi and Yori were gone in a flash of bright yellow. To anyone who had seen a certain other individual do this back then, they went wide eyed and murmurs started up. To the others who had never seen that move thought Naruto just bailed.

Orochimaru and Hiruzen noticed that and both went wide eyed as well. Hiruzen stopped his hand seals right before he got to the end.

"How the hell does that brat know the-"  
Orochimaru started only to be interrupted by the same bright flash not too far away from him. He looked over and saw that Naruto and those two canines were standing behind the old man.  
"WHAT!?"

Hiruzen turned around quickly and saw the blond standing there with a hard look aimed towards the Sannin.  
"N-Naruto?"  
He stuttered out in shock.

Naruto looked to him and smirked.  
"Hey Ji-Ji."  
Naruto started once more before looking towards Orochimaru once more.  
"You can sit this one out. I got this."

"Naruto, this isn't something you can handle."  
Hiruzen spoke up, trying to stand up.  
"You need to get out of here before it's too late."

Naruto continued to smirk as he and the canines stepped in front of the old man.  
"Don't worry."  
He drew his blade and pointed it towards the dead Kage's and Orochimaru.  
"We'll end this in an instant."

Orochimaru sneered a bit before chuckling.  
"End this in an instant?"  
He spoke up as he looked Naruto right in the eyes.  
"Big talk coming from you, Naruto-kun. Do you really believe that you can defeat all three of us with the power of the Kyuubi?"

Naruto didn't say anything as he got into stance.

"Oh."  
Hashirama started.  
"So he is the current holder of the Kyuubi?"  
He received a nod from Orochimaru.  
"Then it seems he has already lost."

Fast as lighting, Hashirama went through hand signs and summoned several wood beams to subdue to Kyuubi holder. Some of the experienced shinobi knew that Kyuubi was weak towards the Mokuton and were worried for the unmoving blond. As the wood got towards him and wrapped around his body, everyone was on baited breath aside from the three in front of Naruto.

"Hmph."  
Hashirama started as he relaxed a bit and turned towards Orochimaru.  
"It seems that this was a waste of my time."

Orochimaru merely smirked as he was glad the gaki was dealt with, though something wasn't right. Why was he still in his stance, and how come he looks completely unaffected by the Mokuton?

"Sorry Shodaime-san."  
Naruto started as he began to move forward, breaking the wood in the process. This shocked many as they never thought the Mokuton would fail to stop the Kyuubi container.  
"But I already had a plan for that long before I even came into the arena."

"WHAT!?"  
Orochimaru shouted as Naruto continued to walk towards the three.

"Impressive."  
Hashirama started as he got into stance.  
"I'm interested in just what the current Kyuubi container can do."

Naruto simply smirked and closed his eyes as he readied his sword. A second later, seals in the shape of a white sun started appearing on the blade and the air inside the barrier became twenty degrees cooler all of a sudden. Hashirama and Tobirama noticed this along with Orochimaru and Hiruzen.

"Naruto."  
The old man started from his still kneeling position.  
"What are you doing?"

Naruto didn't answer as he smirked and opened his eyes. The moment he did that, the seals on his blade glowed a rich white while the blade itself changed to a pitch black color. Wisp of white energy started coming off of the seals and circled around the sword.

"Hmm?"  
Hashirama started as he narrowed his eyes towards the sword.

"Is that-"  
Tobirama started in a surprised tone only to be interrupted by the blond in question.

"The lost sword of the Uzumaki clan."  
At those words, everyone gasped.  
"One of the Seven Swords of Power, and this one is the only one given to the Uzumaki clan for its affinity given to it."  
Naruto raised the blade and his entire right arm was covered in the same white seals as the sword.

They became so bright that they burned the very sleeve right off of his shirt. The symbols covered most of his arm and raced up to the right side of his face until it got to his eye. The seal stopped on his right eye as he opened it to show the sun symbol had replaced his entire pupil. Both the reincarnated Kages and Orochimaru looked on in surprise at this while Hiruzen and everyone else stared, slack-jawed.

Naruto simply smirked as he lowered his blade and got into stance.  
"The Blade of the Sun Goddess."

With those words, both Emi and Yori burst into light, surprising everyone. When the light died, both Emi and Yori stood in pure white coats of fur with their affinities surrounding them. Yori had grown to the size of a large dog with three tails all made of white flames. His piercing black eyes filled with the same flame. Emi had grown almost as big as when Kurama appears in front of others. Her lightning was also white and covering her six tails while her eyes were the same as Yori's, only with the lightning.

"Now then."  
Naruto started as the two canines bared their fangs at the three.  
"It's time I showed you, Orochimaru, just how screwed you really are."

* * *

 ** _Yeah I know, I said I would do the fight scene here in this chapter, but then I got too busy. Sorry bout that. I'll have a pretty lengthy fight scene in the next chapter though, promise. Lol._**

 ** _I'll see ya'll in the next one._**

 ** _Bye-bye._**


	18. Fox vs Snake

**[Where we left off]**

Naruto stood his ground with his blade at the ready, waiting for Orochimaru and the resurrected Kages to make their move. Everyone watching were absolutely stunned by what they were seeing. The sword Naruto had in his possession was magnificent and resonated a power that no one has ever seen before. Safe to say that Ten-Ten was salivating at the glorious blade.

Orochimaru gritted his teeth as he took out his Kusunagi from his mouth and was waiting for the blond to make the first move. Everyone was one pins and needles as the combatants stood there, unfazed and unmoving. A true standoff of sorts.

Hiruzen was about to stand up to offer his own assistance to Naruto and his two companions, but the wounds he had suffered were preventing him from doing so. His worry for the blond was at an all time high. Naruto had never fought anyone like a Kage, much less two of them along with one of the Sannin. This couldn't end well.

Naruto smirked as he relaxed his stance causing Tobirama to launch his assault with a massive torrent of water aimed at the boy. Everyone watched with baited breath as the water reached the blond at blinding speeds and crashed into him, but that was when the water instantly evaporated into steam, covering the area.

"What?"  
Tobirama started in surprise before hearing a loud growl coming his way.

That was when Yori leapt towards him at an impressive speed, blasting a large fireball towards the reincarnated Kage. Tobirama leapt away from the blazing heat in surprise. Yori wasted no time as he closed the distance between them and began his assault.

Hashirama heard the sounds of battle with his brother and was about to clear this steam, but that was when he heard the sounds of lighting rushing towards him. Quick as he could, he summoned an earth wall that took the brunt of a straight lightning bolt. Hashirama was about to use a water juutsu to attack, but that was when he heard a roar behind him. He turned and saw Emi rushing towards him with the speed of lightning itself. She tackled the Kage away from the area before continuing her attack.

Orochimaru looked around as even he couldn't see that well past the steam. He heard the sounds of battle though and knew that his reincarnations were fighting the only question was who were they fighting. The Sannin didn't have much time to ponder this as he felt an intense heat approaching him from the right. Turning quickly and slashing in a horizontal swing, Orochimaru made contact with something metallic if the clang sound was to give anything away. He smirked as he twisted his body around and went on the assault. He felt that the boy was blocking and right now was all talk at this point, but something felt off to the snake. It wasn't the fact that he was pushing the blond back, it was the fact that the boy wasn't fighting back.

Deciding to make the blond make a mistake, Orochimaru decided to talk.  
"What's the matter Naruto-kun? Don't tell me that all of that boasting was just for show now."  
He smirked as he continued the pressure.  
"It seems like without the Kyuubi's power, your really aren't much of a threat to someone of true power!"

"Who are you talking to?"  
A familiar voice spoke from behind the Sannin.

He turned around only to receive a slash on his shoulder for his troubles. He leapt away from the blond as the steam was finally dying down. Orochimaru clutched his shoulder as it bled and saw two Naruto's standing next to each other. He gritted his teeth as he figured out it was a shadow clone.

Murmurs were heard outside the barrier as everyone was wondering how Naruto knew the shadow clone juutsu. Sasuke and Hinata smirked as they knew how well he used them during their training.

Orochimaru calmed down as he stood up and smirked again. He saw how calm Naruto was along with the fights between the Kages and the two animals Naruto had with him. The fox was countering most of all the water techniques from Tobirama while the wolf was dealing with Hashirama's wood juutsu's. He scowled a bit as he realized that this brats pets were standing toe to toe with two of the most powerful shinobi in existence.

"Well, it seems that now it's just you and me Orochimaru."  
Naruto spoke up, getting the pale mans attention. The clone dispersed, leaving just the original there.

Orochimaru smirked as he got into stance. The wound on his shoulder was shallow and didn't effect his movements. Guess he overestimated the brat. The two rushed towards each other and clashed, sparks flying from each swing. Orochimaru immediately felt the difference between the clone and the real deal now. Naruto's strikes were hard and forced the Sannin back a considerable amount with each attack. He clenched his teeth as he could only dodge and block the fast and vicious strikes. Another thing that was different was the sword itself. Whenever he dodged a strike or slash, he could feel an ungodly amount of heat coming from the blade. Whatever it was, he needed to end this quickly and take that sword for himself.

While this was going on, everyone outside the barrier were watching in awe as Naruto and his two companions were holding their own against the three. It really opened many eyes at how skilled Naruto was to be taking on a Sannin like he was just another ninja and how his fox and wolf were dealing with the Kages with little trouble.

Sasuke looked on in awe at his sensei and wondered just how did he get so skillful for his age. If Sasuke was right, his sensei was younger than him by a few months, meaning that he must've been training hard for a vast majority of his life. Sasuke's respect and adoration for his sensei grew right there as he continued fighting the snake Sannin.

Hinata was only slightly worried at first, but now, seeing the sword that Naruto wielded and how he was forcing the snake back, her worries went away. She smiled as she watched him taking on Orochimaru and getting the upper hand in terms of of swordsmanship. She also noticed something about that shallow cut Naruto gave Orochimaru. Activating her Byakugan, she looked closely and went wide eyed at what she saw before she smirked.

Back with the fight, Naruto had Orochimaru on the ropes and the Sannin was not liking it. Naruto's skill with his sword was uncanny to the pale man as whatever technique he tried to use or style he had, Naruto would outmaneuver and overpower him. The Sannin, having enough of being made a fool, jumped back and was about to go through several handseals.

"I've had enough of this Naruto-kun."  
He spoke while smirking in victory.  
"It's time I ended this."  
He bit his thumb and went through the familiar seals for a summoning.

Everyone who knew just what he was doing panicked, thinking that if were to summon the Manda, then Naruto was done for.

Orochimaru raised his hand into the air as he gave Naruto a pretentious smirk.  
"Kuchiyose No Juutsu!"  
He slammed his palm to the ground much to everyones horror to summon Manda, but nothing happened.  
"What!?"

"Having some performance issues I see."  
Naruto started as he placed his blade on his shoulder and smiled.

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME, BOY!?"  
Orochimaru shouted in pure rage as he could feel his chakra but he couldn't access it.

"Easy."  
Naruto spoke with a smirk.  
"That shallow cut I gave you is the real culprit."

Orochimaru looked to his shoulder and widened his eyes as it all came to him right there. That attack wasn't meant to harm him, it was meant to cripple his power. The snake looked to Naruto in pure hatred as he tried once more to access his chakra, but this time, the effects were much worse for him.

The second he tried, he felt two tugs to his body that caused him to scream from the pain. He fell to his knees and dropped the Kusunagi blade. Suddenly, the two resurrected Kages that had been in a heated battle with the two canines stopped what they were doing and stood there. Emi and Yori stopped their assault and watched as the two moved freely on their own as the control Orochimaru had over them was no more.

Orochimaru felt this and was still writhing in pain from what just happened. He tried to stand up only Naruto to stab him in the leg with his sword. Orochimaru screamed as the heat from the blade burnt the very skin on his flesh and the nerves in his leg, making movement impossible now.

"Sorry Orochimaru."  
Naruto started as he looked down towards the man with cold eyes that held no sympathy for him. Orochimaru couldn't believe that look could belong to someone like this boy.  
"But this is where I say goodbye."

Naruto's blade began to glow a bright yellow as he pulled it out of Orochimaru's leg. By this point, the Sound Four were trying to free themselves so they could help their master, but they were of no use thanks to Gaara's sand holding them in place.

Naruto stabbed his sword into Orochimaru's chest, but there was no blood and for the man there was no pain. Instead, he felt some kind of warmth wash over his body as the blade glowed even brighter.

"Yang release: Purified soul."  
Naruto spoke in a near whisper as the glow from the blade went into Orochimaru's body, causing it to glow the same bright light.

Suddenly, Anko, the Sound Four and anyone who has ever been cursed by Orochimaru all felt a pain shoot through their necks. The curse seal on them glowed the same bright color and faded away from their bodies. This had different reactions from them. The four were devastated by what they just lost while Anko was on her knees with tears of joy streaming down her face.

The light inside faded away and all that was left of the snake Sannin was nothing. The sword was pierced into the ground and Orochimaru was gone.

Naruto lifted the sword from the ground and smiled.  
"Well, I guess that's that."

* * *

 _ **I'm not too good at writing fight scenes, but this was pretty okay for a start I suppose.**_

 _ **Not much to say really. Lol.**_

 _ **Bye-bye.**_


	19. A Foxes gift

**[Where we left off]**

After the fight between Naruto and Orochimaru, the Sound and Sand invasion was officially over. The remaining invaders were captured and quickly brought on to be interrogated while the Sand siblings, their sensei Baki, and a few other Sand nin that aided in repelling the invasion forces were spared the wrath of the council. It was absolutely hilarious to Naruto of all people when he spoke up for them all in saying that they were sleeper agents that were helping to aid Konoha during the invasion.

With Orochimaru dead, the curse seal on every living subject he had was gone now. The Sound Four with the exception of the redhead, Tayuya, were furious about the death of their master. She never really cared too heavily about the man, not like her comrades had at least. She was placed in prison away from the other three and with her best friend Kin. Needless to say, the two were happy to be together once again. Anko was on cloud nine when she felt the curse seal finally lift away from her body. She thanked Naruto relentlessly after that day and promised to really 'repay him' later on. Naruto just smiled at her.

It had been a few days now since the invasion and things were going back to a semi normal way. With the injuries he suffered in his battle, Hiruzen was mainly bedridden and could no longer perform his duties as Hokage. That was not good news for Konoha. Danzo wanted to step up as the new Hokage, seeing this as his golden opportunity to make Konoha the greatest village in the world. Those plans came crashing down when Hiruzen was able to get to a meeting days later and announce that he would be appointing Tsunade Senju as his successor. Danzo was furious, but kept his composure to keep up appearances. If he couldn't be Hokage, then he would have to ensure that Tsunade would have an 'accident' when being retrieved by his Root nin. That plan was also shut down when Hiruzen called back Jiraiya to be the one to bring her back. Jiraiya was happy to do so, but figured now would be a good time to check on his apparent returned godson, completely unaware of what the blond had accomplished since he was back.

 **[Namikaze Estate]**

Right now though, Naruto had surprised both Hinata and Haku with the demon contract for themselves in his home. Kyuubi was all too happy to see the two that had snagged his kit's heart accept the contract without a moments hesitation.

"So this was the surprise you mentioned before?"  
Hinata asked as she hugged him tightly.

Naruto simply smiled to her and nodded.  
"Yep. Told you you'd love it.

Hinata gave a kind smile and kissed him passionately on the lips. After a few seconds, they parted and Haku was able to sneak in and plant her lips upon his own. Kyuubi, who had been summoned and was laying on the couch, rolled his eyes for a bit but was happy nonetheless.

 **"Alright."**  
Kyuubi started as he sat on his hind legs. The three turned to him.  
 **"As much as this is nice and all, let's get you two to sign this and see what happens."**

Kyuubi brought the contract out like he had done before and both Haku and Hinata signed it in blood. Kyuubi sighed in content and brought the contract back so that the two girls could experience what was to come next. They knew that when Sasuke signed it, he was racked with an intense pain, especially his eyes sense he had a dojuutsu.

Several seconds passed as the two got ready for it. That was when the pain shot through them both.

For Haku, her entire body felt like it was repeatedly being stabbed at with something cold. Her back arched as she fell and writhed on the floor. Her chakra came out of her body and swirled around her like a snowstorm would. Little traces of black ice could be seen within the small storm as it enveloped Haku's chakra completely. She thrashed about for a bit before the black ice spread throughout her chakra and a pillar of ice shot from her body into the air. It was very fortunate that they were outside in the training grounds for this, especially after the hole Sasuke's lightning left inside last time.

Hinata, much like Sasuke before her, was bleeding from her eyes and fell to the ground in pain as she clutched at her eyes. Her chakra came out of her body and was surrounded by a black water. The water flowed slowly around the chakra and turned it completely back and dripping. The chakra enveloped her as she still was on the floor in pain and a geyser of the black water shot into the air. Hinata passed out from the pain just as Haku had and the two laid there for a few seconds.

"Maki, Haruki."  
Naruto started to the two pups.  
"Why don't you two go and check up on them, okay?"

 _"Okay."_  
The two pups spoke in unison with enthusiasm.

They approached the two girls quickly and stood next to them respectively. Maki was near Haku with Haruki near Hinata.

 _"Haku-chan?"_  
Maki started while licking Haku's cheek.  
 _"Are you okay?"_

Haku groaned for a second before opening her eyes and seeing the happy pup in front of her. Smiling, she instantly recognized the little guy and scratched him behind his ear.  
"I'm just fine Maki."  
She spoke with a smile as Maki continued to lick her face with excitement.

Haruki smiled and wagged her tail as she spoke to Hinata's stirring form.  
 _"Hey, Hinata-chan. Are you still alive?"_

Hinata chuckled at the pups bluntness and slowly opened her eyes only to shield them from the light.  
"Yeah. I'm okay I think."

 _"What's wrong?"_  
Haruki spoke up to her as Hinata sat up while still covering her eyes.

"I think that whatever is supposed to happen to my eyes is what's wrong."  
Hinata answered her as Kyuubi came to her side.

 **"Do you think you can open your eyes so we can see them Hinata?"**  
Kyuubi asked while Naruto checked on Haku.

"Sure."  
Hinata answered as she opened her eyes slowly.

When she was finally able to open them fully, Kyuubi actually raised his brows briefly. This was when Naruto came to her and also raised his brows.

"Whoa."  
Naruto started as he looked into her eyes.

"What?"  
Hinata asked quickly as she started to really focus now.

 **"Here."**  
Kyuubi held up a mirror with one of his tails and held it to her face.

Hinata saw that her eyes had definitely changed on her. No longer were they the white, pupilless way they had always been. Now, they were a rich blue color with a dark blue pupil that seemed to have some kind of energy flowing constantly within it. Hinata gasped in surprise as she looked into her eyes intensely as that energy in her pupils continued to flow even without her moving.

 **"What do you see Hinata?"**  
Kyuubi asked her, curious as to what her new Byakugan could do now.

Hinata looked around for a brief moment as she looked towards the large fox. She widened her new eyes at what she saw.  
"I can see every inch of chakra in your body Kyuubi-san. Not only that, I see certain points that are a different color than others on you and Naruto-kun."

"Weak points I'm assuming?"  
Naruto asked as he looked to Kyuubi with a questioning gaze.

 **"Not sure."**  
The fox answered as he went over to Hinata.  
 **"Lets see what happens when you strike one of those points. Naruto, use a shadow clone for her to test out."**

"Right."  
Naruto nodded and did as told.

Once the clone came into existence, Hinata stood up and got into stance. She saw the exact same Tenketsu point that was a different color from the rest just like before. Hinata took a deep breath before moving faster than before, surprising the blond and fox demon. It wasn't as fast as Sasuke, but it was still an impressive display of speed that made her look like a blur. She struck the different color Tenketsu point on the clones neck and leapt away as the clone stood there for a moment. For a few seconds nothing happened to the clone, not even dispelling and for a moment Hinata thought that whatever gift her new Byakugan granted her was wasted. That was when Naruto, the real one, fell to the ground in pain. The clone began to convulse as it's eyes began to change into a different color. No longer were they blue like Naruto's, they were now a clear, crystal like color. Hinata and Kyuubi looked at the clone and were confused when it stopped convulsing, but then that confusion turned to shock when the clone imploded into those eyes and fell to the floor. Naruto sat up as the pain left him and he felt a little bit weaker now. Hinata went to the crystal eyes and could feel chakra flowing within them. Not just any chakra, Naruto's chakra. Both Kyuubi and Naruto felt it too and watched as Hinata picked up both crystals in her hands and they both seeped into her palms. She gasped for a second as she felt a rush of chakra going through her body, but took a breath when she felt the energy naturally flow through her now. She opened her eyes and looked to the two as Naruto stood up on wobbly legs.

"H-How do you feel, Hinata-hime?"  
Naruto asked her as he regained a bit of his strength.

Hinata looked to him and smiled a bit.  
"I feel stronger now. I think I know what those points do for me against a shadow clone now."

 **"Indeed."**  
Kyuubi started as he got a pretty good idea what she could now do.  
 **"Your new eyes not only allow you to see a certain weak spot of the body, but you can also steal that persons chakra. It also seems that a shadow clone completely drains the users actual chakra too."**  
Hinata quickly looked towards Naruto with worry in her eyes.  
 **"Don't worry Hinata, I already replenished what you took from Naruto, so don't worry. I will urge you to use restraint though."**  
Hinata and Naruto looked to the fox.  
 **"If you could do that to a shadow clone and effect the user, then who knows what'll happen if you use it on an actual person or even a Biju for that matter."**

Hinata nodded as she got the basis of what Kyuubi was telling her.

Haku had already been awake and heard what had changed with Hinata. Naruto went to her and before he could even ask if she was alright, he noticed that she now had an icy blue tattoo of a dragon on the right side of her neck. The tail wrapped around her neck and draped itself over her left shoulder while the head was on the bottom of her jaw. Naruto gasped in utter amusement when he saw the strange tattoo. Haku stood up and could feel that her bloodline has changed greatly. She looked to a tree out in the yard and aimed her palm towards it. Without even doing anything or saying anything, an ice senbon flew out of her hand and went through the tree. After it did that, the tree began to freeze from where Haku had fired the ice at. It only took a few seconds, but soon enough the entire tree was frozen solid. Naruto looked on in awe at what his Ice-hime had done. Even Kyuubi and Hinata were amazed by Haku's new powers.

Before any of them could even say or do anything, there was a knock at the front door. Naruto gave both Haku and Hinata a chaste kiss each before going to see who it was. Only a few people could actually pass through the barrier now, Sasuke, Hiruzen, Kurenai, Asuma, Gai and Kakashi, so it came as a bit of a surprise when Naruto opened the door to find a man with long white hair standing in his doorway.

Naruto recognized this man as Jiraiya of the Sannin, the other student of Hiruzen Sarutobi.  
"Well this is interesting."  
Naruto started as he crossed his arms and looked to the man who was supposedly his god father.  
"What can I do for you Jiraiya-san?"

 _'He knows me already?'_  
Jiraiya thought to himself as now he couldn't do his complex entrance to the boy. Oh well.  
"For one, I'm assuming you already know who I am and what I was to your old man."  
Naruto nodded to the man and kept the same smirk on his face.  
"Good, then this may be a lot easier then."

Naruto raised a brow and tilted his head a bit.  
"Make what a lot easier?"

Jiraiya grinned at the boy.  
"My sensei has given me the order to retrieve his last student, Tsunade Senju, to become the Godaime Hokage."

Naruto nodded as that makes a lot of sense. Out of the three Sannin, Orochimaru was no more while Jiraiya was busy with his spy network. That really only left one last person qualified enough to take up the mantle of Hokage, and that was Tsunade by default. Naruto understood why the still recovering Sandaime would order this, and now with Jiraiya here, he had a pretty good idea what to expect next.

Jiraiya continued with that same grin.  
"And you're coming with me gaki."

Naruto could only smirk as he figured as much. After his win against Orochimaru and the two dead Kage's, many of the civilians and shinobi saw the blond in a new light now. No longer did they see him as a demon or a monster they would try and destroy, instead they saw him as a powerful warrior with power that no one could possibly comprehend. He had gained respect and praise from most of the people of Konoha, even the council members started to see him as a savior more than a demon. The fact that he was to wed Hinata made Hiashi happy now to have a powerful ally join his clan now. There were still a few that despised the blond or wanted his power for themselves at the very least. That was mainly just Danzo and his two cohorts Koharu and Homura. Right now, Naruto was considered one of the most powerful non-ninja's in the entire village.

Seeing as though Jiraiya wanted Naruto to come with him meant he either wanted to see him in action or wanted to train him like his father. Whatever the reason, it would be good to get out of the village a little more. With a smile, Naruto answered the old Sannin.  
"Alright."

* * *

 _ **Next chapter will have some preparations going on and Naruto heading out to find Tsunade, along with some of the Akatsuki and also Sasuke.**_

 _ **Hope ya'll liked what I did with Hinata and Haku. In all honesty it just sounds cool in my opinion.**_

 _ **Well, till next time.**_

 _ **Bye-bye.**_


	20. Departure of the Fox

**[Where we left off, front gates]**

Naruto was saying his goodbye's to both Haku and Hinata who now had the same genjuutsu on her eyes as Sasuke did. He knew that they were worried, but he reassured them as he also had Emi and Yori with as well as Sasuke and Yuki.

The reason for Sasuke being there with his sensei was actually very simple. He was promoted to chuunin. Thanks to his contribution in the invasion, not to mention his fantastic battle with Gaara, Sasuke had proven himself worthy of being promoted alongside Shikamaru and Hinata. Hinata had to stay behind due to her team needing her for a mission later, and Shikamaru was well Shikamaru.

Naruto requested that Sasuke join him and Jiraiya to Hiruzen who agreed with no debate. Kakashi, ashamed of his failure to recognize his late sensei's son, didn't bother anymore and loathed himself for now. Sakura was being in general an annoyance towards the Uchiha and was the main reason Sasuke agreed to head out with his real sensei. Kiba was still just an ass, nothing changed there.

The group prepared themselves as Naruto was checking his gear along with Sasuke. Even Yuki, Yori and Emi had on some gear for themselves. Jiraiya had never seen anything like this before. The animal thing, not the checking your equipment thing. He watched as he already double checked his things and saw how efficient the group was. They packed everything up in seals along their clothes for easy access while the three canines had on harnesses with seals on various spots on it for easy access as well.

When they were finished, Jiraiya simply looked to them with chuckle and they headed out to find Tsunade.

 **[Akatsuki base]**

Itachi and Kisame were standing side by side while the rest of the Akatsuki were being projected like usual. The leader of the group peered down at the two and began this particular meeting.

"It has come to our attention that the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki is much stronger than we initially suspected."  
Pein started as some of the other members raised a brow.  
"Zetsu has informed me that the child has managed to defeat and kill Orochimaru on his own."

That definitely caught everyone's attention as even they all had admitted that Orochimaru was a very powerful enemy. If the boy was able to defeat him, then that couldn't bode all too well when it was time to retrieve him. Pein continued.

"Be that as it may, Zetsu has informed me that the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki is leaving the village on a mission to retrieve Tsunade Senju. He is traveling with Jiraiya and another Uchiha."  
At the mention of the other Uchiha, Itachi had to try very hard to hide his anxiety to potentially seeing his little brother again. The last time they saw each other wasn't pleasant to the older of the two.  
"Itachi and Kisame, you two will intercept them and capture the Jinchuuriki at once. Understood?"

Both Itachi and Kisame nodded. The other members of the Akatsuki vanished and the two left to do the task given to them.

"So."  
Kisame started with his usual grin.  
"Seems the brat is stronger than we gave him credit for, eh, Itachi?"

Itachi ignored his comrades question as he thought about why Sasuke was tagging along. From what he had been hearing from Zetsu, his little brother had been practically worshiped by the people of Konoha. Something about that didn't sit well with Itachi as that had been a solid year ago when the plant man reported that. He sighed in content as he knew for a fact that his little brother's arrogance and hatred wouldn't be enough to defeat him. He would have to stoke that flame on until Sasuke was ready.

 **[A week later]**

It had been a week since the three left the village to find Tsunade and bring her back and already they made it to one of the villages Jiraiya's contacts are in. The three decided that they would meet up with the informant first and decided to either move on to another village or stay here and search for more clues.

While they were on the hunt, Jiraiya had decided to teach Naruto his former students prized technique, the Rasengan. Naruto, already knowing of his father's created move, decided to learn it from his godfather while also continuing to train Sasuke. Despite his performance in both the preliminary round and the actual tournament, Sasuke still had a ways to go. He realized that when he saw his sensei fight seriously for the first time. The sight of Naruto taking down Orochimaru while Emi and Yori dealt with the first and second was a real eye opener for the young Uchiha.

Naruto kicked his training up a notch and decided to teach him various other techniques that dealt with his sword style and with Yuki. Sasuke soaked it all in like a sponge but still had a ways to go before he could even be anywhere close to Naruto's level.

While on the search for the Slug Sannin, the group had caught a break and found that Tsunade was here in this village not long ago. Her last location before she and her apprentice disappeared was a casino. This was where Jiraiya was headed to while the two teens opted to stay behind to train some more.

Right now, Sasuke and Yuki were practicing a new technique on a tree while Naruto, Emi and Yuki watched on. Sasuke nodded to Yuki who nodded back from his perched position on Sasuke's shoulder. The Uchiha closed his eyes as he brought his sword to himself. He breathed slowly as the blade began to become coated in lighting with Yuki also slowly changing as well. His fur crackled with electricity and soon enough, he began to change into pure energy. Yuki disappeared and Sasuke's blade erupted with lighting, firing up for a second and causing a bolt of lighting to fire down towards the tree. The attack split the tree in half and Sasuke rushed forward at a incredibly fast speed to cut the rest of the tree down. He passed through and suddenly, multiple strikes rendered the tree nothing but splinters and leaves. The energy dissipated and Yuki appeared back on Sasuke's shoulder. Once his fur returned to normal, both of them collapsed in exhaustion on the ground.

"Very good Sasuke."  
Naruto spoke in a proud tone as he approached Sasuke's prone form.  
"You got a good grasp of the move, but your reserves take a really big hit when you do this. You'll have to focus on controlling the output of energy you expend so you're not using a one and done technique."  
Naruto explained as he saw Sasuke nod his head while still on the ground.

 _"You two are making excellent progress despite that move taking time to start up."_  
Emi voiced her thoughts.  
 _"You two will need to work on that as well."_

Sasuke and Yuki were able to look up to see the trio standing before them and nod before passing out. Chakra exhaustion was a hell of a thing. Naruto smiled as he picked Sasuke up and placed him over his shoulder. Emi carried Yuki while Yori was left to carry Sasuke's blade. The three headed back to the hotel to rest up until Jiraiya gets back, unaware of the two sets of eyes that spotted the technique earlier watching them.

* * *

 _ **It's short. Oh well. Lol.**_

 _ **Next chapter will have a fight scene in it.**_

 _ **Till next time.**_

 _ **Bye-bye.**_


End file.
